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rfc:rfc1217

Network Working Group V. Cerf Request for Comments: 1217 CSCR

                                                          1 April 1991
    Memo from the Consortium for Slow Commotion Research (CSCR)

Status of this Memo

 This RFC is in response to RFC 1216, "Gigabit Network Economics and
 Paradigm Shifts".  Distribution of this memo is unlimited.

To: Poorer Richard and Professor Kynikos

Subject: ULSNET BAA

From: Vint Cerf/CSCR

Date: 4/1/91

 The Consortium for Slow Commotion Research (CSCR) [1] is pleased to
 respond to your research program announcement (RFC 1216) on Ultra
 Low-Speed Networking (ULSNET).  CSCR proposes to carry out a major
 research and development program on low-speed, low-efficiency
 networks over a period of several eons.  Several designs are
 suggested below for your consideration.

1. Introduction

 Military requirements place a high premium on ultra-robust systems
 capable of supporting communication in extremely hostile
 environments.  A major contributing factor in the survivability of
 systems is a high degree of redundancy.  CSCR believes that the
 system designs offered below exhibit extraordinary redundancy
 features which should be of great interest to DARPA and the
 Department of Defense.

2. Jam-Resistant Land Mobile Communications

 This system uses a highly redundant optical communication technique
 to achieve ultra-low, ultra-robust transmission.  The basic unit is
 the M1A1 tank.  Each tank is labelled with the number 0 or 1 painted
 four feet high on the tank turret in yellow, day-glo luminescent
 paint.  Several detection methods are under consideration:
   (a)  A tree or sand-dune mounted forward observer (FO) radios
        to a reach echelon main frame computer the binary values

Cerf [Page 1] RFC 1217 ULSNET BAA April 1991

        of tanks moving in a serial column.  The mainframe decodes
        the binary values and voice-synthesizes the alphameric
        ASCII-encoded messages which is then radioed back to the
        FO.  The FO then dispatches a runner to his unit HQ with
        the message.  The system design includes two redundant,
        emergency back-up forward observers in different trees
        with a third in reserve in a foxhole.
   (b)  Wide-area communication by means of overhead
        reconnaissance satellites which detect the binary signals
        from the M1A1 mobile system and download this
        information for processing in special U.S. facilities in the
        Washington, D.C. area.  A Convection Machine [2] system
        will be used to perform a codebook table look-up to decode
        the binary message.  The decoded message will be relayed
        by morse-code over a packet meteor burst communications
        channel to the appropriate Division headquarters.
   (c)  An important improvement in the sensitivity of this system
        can be obtained by means of a coherent detection strategy.
        Using long baseline interferometry, phase differences
        among the advancing tank column elements will be used to
        signal a secondary message to select among a set of
        codebooks in the Convenction Machine.  The phase analysis
        will be carried out using Landsat imagery enhanced by
        suitable processing at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory.  The
        Landsat images (of the moving tanks) will be correlated
        with SPOT Image images to obtain the phase-encoded
        information.  The resulting data will be faxed to
        Washington, D.C., for use in the Convection Machine
        decoding step.  The remainder of this process is as for (b)
        above.
   (d)  It is proposed to use SIMNET to simulate this system.

3. Low Speed Undersea Communication

 Using the 16" guns of the Battleship Missouri, a pulse-code modulated
 message will be transmitted via the Pacific Ocean to the Ames
 Research Center in California.  Using a combination of fixed and
 towed acoustic hydrophone arrays, the PCM signal will be detected,
 recorded, enhanced and analyzed both at fixed installations and
 aboard undersea vessels which have been suitably equipped.  An
 alternative acoustic source is to use M1A1 main battle tanks firing
 150 mm H.E. ordnance.  It is proposed to conduct tests of this method
 in the Persian Gulf during the summer of 1991.

Cerf [Page 2] RFC 1217 ULSNET BAA April 1991

4. Jam-Resistant Underwater Communication

 The ULS system proposed in (2) above has the weakness that it is
 readily jammed by simple depth charge explosions or other sources of
 acoustic noise (e.g., Analog Equipment Corporation DUCK-TALK voice
 synthesizers linked with 3,000 AMP amplifiers).  An alternative is to
 make use of the ultimate in jam resistance: neutrino transmission.
 For all practical purposes, almost nothing (including several light-
 years of lead) will stop a neutrino.  There is, however, a slight
 cross-section which can be exploited provided that a cubic mile of
 sea water is available for observing occasional neutrino-chlorine
 interactions which produce a detectable photon burst.  Thus, we have
 the basis for a highly effective, extremely low speed communication
 system for communicating with submarines.
 There are a few details to be worked out:
   (a)  the only accelerator available to us to generate neutrino
        bursts is located at Batavia National Laboratory (BNL).
   (b)  the BNL facility can only send neutrino bursts in one
        direction (through the center of the Earth) to a site near
        Tierra del Fuego, Chile.  Consequently, all submarines must
        be scheduled to pass near Tierra del Fuego on a regular
        basis to coincide with the PCM neutrino signalling from
        the BNL source.
   (c)  the maximum rate of neutrino burst transmission is
        approximately once every 20 seconds.  This high rate can be
        reduced considerably if the pwer source for the accelerator
        is limited to a rate sustainable by discharging a large
        capacitor which is trickle charged by a 2 square foot solar
        panel mounted to face north.

5. Options for Further Reducing Effective Throughput

   (a)  Anti-Huffman Coding.  The most frequent symbol is
        assigned the longest code, with code lengths reducing with
        symbol probability.
   (b)  Minimum likelihood decoding.  The least likely
        interpretation of the detected symbol is selected to
        maximize the probability of decoding error.
   (c)  Firefly cryptography.  A random signal (mason jar full of
        fireflies) is used to encipher the transmitted signal by
        optical combining.  At the receiving site, another jar of
        fireflies is used to decipher the message.  Since the

Cerf [Page 3] RFC 1217 ULSNET BAA April 1991

        correlation between the transmitting and receiving firefly
        jars is essentially nil, the probability of successful
        decipherment is quite low, yielding a very low effective
        transmission rate.
   (d)  Recursive Self-encapsulation.  Since it is self-evident that
        layered communication is a GOOD THING, more layers
        must be better.  It is proposed to recursively encapsulate
        each of the 7 layers of OSI, yielding a 49 layer
        communications model.  The redundancy and
        retransmission and flow control achieved by this means
        should produce an extremely low bandwidth system if,
        indeed, any information can be transmitted at all.  It is
        proposed that the top level application layer utilize ASN.1
        encoded in a 32 bit per character set.
   (e)  Scaling.  The initial M1A1 tank basis for the land mobile
        communication system can be improved.  It is proposed to
        reduce the effective data rate further by replacing the
        tanks with shuttle launch vehicles.  The only slower method
        of signalling might be the use of cars on any freeway in the
        Los Angeles area.
   (f)  Network Management.  It is proposed to adopt the Slow
        Network Management Protocol (SNMP) as a standard for
        ULSNET.  All standard Management Information Base
        variables will be specified in Serbo-Croatian and all
        computations carried-out in reverse-Polish.
   (g)  Routing.  Two alternatives are proposed:
             (1) Mashed Potato Routing
             (2) Airline Baggage Routing [due to S. Cargo]
        The former is a scheme whereby any incoming packets are
        stored for long periods of time before forwarding.  If space
        for storage becomes a problem, packets are compressed by
        removing bits at random.  Packets are then returned to the
        sender.  In the latter scheme, packets are mislabelled at the
        initial switch and randomly labelled as they are moved
        through the network.  A special check is made before
        forwarding to avoid routing to the actual intended
        destination.
 CSCR looks forward to a protracted and fruitless discussion with you
 on this subject as soon as we can figure out how to transmit the
 proposal.

Cerf [Page 4] RFC 1217 ULSNET BAA April 1991

NOTES

 [1] The Consortium was formed 3/27/91 and includes David Clark,
     John Wroclawski, and Karen Sollins/MIT, Debbie Deutsch/BBN,
     Bob Braden/ISI, Vint Cerf/CNRI and several others whose names
     have faded into an Alzheimerian oblivion...
 [2] Convection Machine is a trademark of Thoughtless Machines, Inc.,
     a joint-venture of Hot-Air Associates and Air Heads International
     using vaporware from the Neural Network Corporation.

Security Considerations

 Security issues are not discussed in this memo.

Author's Address

 Vint Cerf
 Corporation for National Research Initiatives
 1895 Preston White Drive, Suite 100
 Reston, VA 22091
 Phone: (703) 620-8990
 EMail: CERF@NRI.RESTON.VA.US

Cerf [Page 5]

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