Secure Delay-tolerant Routing, Efficient Algorithms for Multi-hop Scheduling

Stottler Henke Associates, Inc. proposes S-DREAMS (Secure-DREAMS). This effort both furthers our understanding of security for interplanetary networks, as well as pushes the state of the art in interplanetary routing. We will investigate two DTN security requirements: network key management and security policy. Both areas are unsolved problems in the DTN community, and different studied approaches have applications for different network architectures, topologies, etc. Both are also critical to establishing a security context for establishing secure communications, which is a key requirement for network service providers. In this Phase I effort, we will identify use cases, advantages, and disadvantages of a variety of techniques. These include hierarchical, reputation-based, and self-healing key management. Additionally, identity-based, gossip-based, and trust-threshold policies for security. With support and feedback from the DTN stakeholders and community–such as the IETF DTN Working Group and CCSDS–we aim to identify key core components of different techniques, and present an associated specification. This specification will serve as a foundation for future DTN security research. In Phase II, we will create a reference implementation of this specification, and integrate it into DREAMS, our advanced DTN network routing and scheduling algorithm. We additionally propose further development work for DREAMS in order to align with key service provider requirements such as varying user policies (e.g., bandwidth sharing) and video streaming. This investigation and development ultimately envisions developing key components that are employable by network service providers. These range from NASA, other government agencies, and commercial providers. We will thus work closely with DTN stakeholders and researchers, and by working with DTN security expert Dr. Edward J. Birrane of Applied Physics Lab, we will be able to stay closely tuned to the community and stakeholders.