Lecture: Introduction to Delay/Disruption Tolerant Networking (1.1)

NASA’s Interplanetary Overlay Network (ION) is an implementation of Delay/Disruption Tolerant Networking. This series videos takes the viewer through the material to explain background, motivation, benefits, and how-to for using ION.


Delay/Disruption Tolerant Networking (DTN) is NASA’s solution for more reliable, automated network communications for space missions. It extends the terrestrial Internet capabilities into the challenging communication environments in space where the conventional Internet does not work well. In this lecture, we introduce the general concepts of DTN and discuss their suitability for space flight communications.



Scott Burleigh is a Principal Engineer at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, where he has been developing flight mission software since 1986. A member of the Delay-Tolerant Networking (DTN) Research Group of the Internet Research Task Force, Mr. Burleigh is a co-author of the DTN Architecture definition (Internet RFC 4838). He is also a co-author of the specification for the DTN Bundle Protocol (BP, Internet RFC 5050) supporting automated data forwarding through a network of intermittently connected nodes. Mr. Burleigh leads the development and maintenance of implementations of BP and related protocols that are designed for integration into deep space mission flight software, with the long-term goal of enabling deployment of a delay-tolerant Solar System Internet. Mr. Burleigh has received the NASA Exceptional Engineering Achievement Medal and four NASA Space Act Board Awards for his work on the design and implementation of these communication protocols.

Dr. Keith Scott is a Principal Engineer with The MITRE Corporation where he specializes in the application of Internet protocols in austere environments such as space and tactical. Keith is co-author of the DTN Architecture definition (RFC4838) and the Bundle Protocol specification (RFC5050) and wrote one of the earliest implementations of the Bundle Protocol. Keith also supports the international standardization of the DTN protocol suite for space communications via the Consultative Committee for Space Data Systems’ Space Internetworking Area’s Delay Tolerant Networking working group.