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rfc:rfc5050

Network Working Group K. Scott Request for Comments: 5050 The MITRE Corporation Category: Experimental S. Burleigh

                                        NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory
                                                         November 2007
                   Bundle Protocol Specification

Status of This Memo

 This memo defines an Experimental Protocol for the Internet
 community.  It does not specify an Internet standard of any kind.
 Discussion and suggestions for improvement are requested.
 Distribution of this memo is unlimited.

IESG Note

 This RFC is not a candidate for any level of Internet Standard.  The
 IETF disclaims any knowledge of the fitness of this RFC for any
 purpose and in particular notes that the decision to publish is not
 based on IETF review for such things as security, congestion control,
 or inappropriate interaction with deployed protocols.  The RFC Editor
 has chosen to publish this document at its discretion.  Readers of
 this document should exercise caution in evaluating its value for
 implementation and deployment.  See RFC 3932 for more information.

Abstract

 This document describes the end-to-end protocol, block formats, and
 abstract service description for the exchange of messages (bundles)
 in Delay Tolerant Networking (DTN).
 This document was produced within the IRTF's Delay Tolerant
 Networking Research Group (DTNRG) and represents the consensus of all
 of the active contributors to this group.  See http://www.dtnrg.org
 for more information.

Scott & Burleigh Experimental [Page 1] RFC 5050 Bundle Protocol Specification November 2007

Table of Contents

 1.  Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  3
 2.  Requirements Notation  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  4
 3.  Service Description  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  5
   3.1.  Definitions  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  5
   3.2.  Implementation Architectures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  9
   3.3.  Services Offered by Bundle Protocol Agents . . . . . . . . 11
 4.  Bundle Format  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
   4.1.  Self-Delimiting Numeric Values (SDNVs) . . . . . . . . . . 12
   4.2.  Bundle Processing Control Flags  . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
   4.3.  Block Processing Control Flags . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
   4.4.  Endpoint IDs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
   4.5.  Formats of Bundle Blocks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
     4.5.1.  Primary Bundle Block . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
     4.5.2.  Canonical Bundle Block Format  . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
     4.5.3.  Bundle Payload Block . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
   4.6.  Extension Blocks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
   4.7.  Dictionary Revision  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
 5.  Bundle Processing  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
   5.1.  Generation of Administrative Records . . . . . . . . . . . 25
   5.2.  Bundle Transmission  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
   5.3.  Bundle Dispatching . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
   5.4.  Bundle Forwarding  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
     5.4.1.  Forwarding Contraindicated . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
     5.4.2.  Forwarding Failed  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
   5.5.  Bundle Expiration  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
   5.6.  Bundle Reception . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
   5.7.  Local Bundle Delivery  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
   5.8.  Bundle Fragmentation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
   5.9.  Application Data Unit Reassembly . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
   5.10. Custody Transfer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
     5.10.1. Custody Acceptance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
     5.10.2. Custody Release  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
   5.11. Custody Transfer Success . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
   5.12. Custody Transfer Failure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
   5.13. Bundle Deletion  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
   5.14. Discarding a Bundle  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
   5.15. Canceling a Transmission . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
   5.16. Polling  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
 6.  Administrative Record Processing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
   6.1.  Administrative Records . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
     6.1.1.  Bundle Status Reports  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
     6.1.2.  Custody Signals  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
   6.2.  Generation of Administrative Records . . . . . . . . . . . 44
   6.3.  Reception of Custody Signals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44

Scott & Burleigh Experimental [Page 2] RFC 5050 Bundle Protocol Specification November 2007

 7.  Services Required of the Convergence Layer . . . . . . . . . . 44
   7.1.  The Convergence Layer  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
   7.2.  Summary of Convergence Layer Services  . . . . . . . . . . 45
 8.  Security Considerations  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
 9.  IANA Considerations  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
 10. References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
   10.1. Normative References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
   10.2. Informative References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
 Appendix A.  Contributors  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
 Appendix B.  Comments  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49

1. Introduction

 This document describes version 6 of the Delay Tolerant Networking
 (DTN) "bundle" protocol (BP).  Delay Tolerant Networking is an end-
 to-end architecture providing communications in and/or through highly
 stressed environments.  Stressed networking environments include
 those with intermittent connectivity, large and/or variable delays,
 and high bit error rates.  To provide its services, BP sits at the
 application layer of some number of constituent internets, forming a
 store-and-forward overlay network.  Key capabilities of BP include:
 o  Custody-based retransmission
 o  Ability to cope with intermittent connectivity
 o  Ability to take advantage of scheduled, predicted, and
    opportunistic connectivity (in addition to continuous
    connectivity)
 o  Late binding of overlay network endpoint identifiers to
    constituent internet addresses
 For descriptions of these capabilities and the rationale for the DTN
 architecture, see [ARCH] and [SIGC].  [TUT] contains a tutorial-level
 overview of DTN concepts.
 This is an experimental protocol, produced within the IRTF's Delay
 Tolerant Networking Research Group (DTNRG) and represents the
 consensus of all of the active contributors to this group.  If this
 protocol is used on the Internet, IETF standard protocols for
 security and congestion control should be used.
 BP's location within the standard protocol stack is as shown in
 Figure 1.  BP uses the "native" internet protocols for communications
 within a given internet.  Note that "internet" in the preceding is
 used in a general sense and does not necessarily refer to TCP/IP.
 The interface between the common bundle protocol and a specific

Scott & Burleigh Experimental [Page 3] RFC 5050 Bundle Protocol Specification November 2007

 internetwork protocol suite is termed a "convergence layer adapter".
 Figure 1 shows three distinct transport and network protocols
 (denoted T1/N1, T2/N2, and T3/N3).
 +-----------+                                         +-----------+
 |   BP app  |                                         |   BP app  |
 +---------v-|   +->>>>>>>>>>v-+     +->>>>>>>>>>v-+   +-^---------+
 |    BP   v |   | ^    BP   v |     | ^    BP   v |   | ^   BP    |
 +---------v-+   +-^---------v-+     +-^---------v-+   +-^---------+
 | Trans1  v |   + ^  T1/T2  v |     + ^  T2/T3  v |   | ^  Trans3 |
 +---------v-+   +-^---------v-+     +-^---------v +   +-^---------+
 | Net1    v |   | ^  N1/N2  v |     | ^  N2/N3  v |   | ^  Net3   |
 +---------v-+   +-^---------v +     +-^---------v-+   +-^---------+
 |         >>>>>>>>^         >>>>>>>>>>^         >>>>>>>>^         |
 +-----------+   +-------------+     +-------------+   +-----------+
 |                      |                   |                      |
 |<--- An internet  --->|                   |<--- An internet  --->|
 |                      |                   |                      |
                Figure 1: The Bundle Protocol Sits at
              the Application Layer of the Internet Model
 This document describes the format of the protocol data units (called
 bundles) passed between entities participating in BP communications.
 The entities are referred to as "bundle nodes".  This document does
 not address:
 o  Operations in the convergence layer adapters that bundle nodes use
    to transport data through specific types of internets.  (However,
    the document does discuss the services that must be provided by
    each adapter at the convergence layer.)
 o  The bundle routing algorithm.
 o  Mechanisms for populating the routing or forwarding information
    bases of bundle nodes.

2. Requirements Notation

 The key words "MUST", "MUST NOT", "REQUIRED", "SHALL", "SHALL NOT",
 "SHOULD", "SHOULD NOT", "RECOMMENDED", "MAY", and "OPTIONAL" in this
 document are to be interpreted as described in [RFC2119].

Scott & Burleigh Experimental [Page 4] RFC 5050 Bundle Protocol Specification November 2007

3. Service Description

3.1. Definitions

 Bundle -  A bundle is a protocol data unit of the DTN bundle
    protocol.  Each bundle comprises a sequence of two or more
    "blocks" of protocol data, which serve various purposes.  Multiple
    instances of the same bundle (the same unit of DTN protocol data)
    might exist concurrently in different parts of a network --
    possibly in different representations -- in the memory local to
    one or more bundle nodes and/or in transit between nodes.  In the
    context of the operation of a bundle node, a bundle is an instance
    of some bundle in the network that is in that node's local memory.
 Bundle payload -  A bundle payload (or simply "payload") is the
    application data whose conveyance to the bundle's destination is
    the purpose for the transmission of a given bundle.  The terms
    "bundle content", "bundle payload", and "payload" are used
    interchangeably in this document.  The "nominal" payload for a
    bundle forwarded in response to a bundle transmission request is
    the application data unit whose location is provided as a
    parameter to that request.  The nominal payload for a bundle
    forwarded in response to reception of that bundle is the payload
    of the received bundle.
 Fragment -  A fragment is a bundle whose payload block contains a
    fragmentary payload.  A fragmentary payload is either the first N
    bytes or the last N bytes of some other payload -- either a
    nominal payload or a fragmentary payload -- of length M, such that
    0 < N < M.
 Bundle node -  A bundle node (or, in the context of this document,
    simply a "node") is any entity that can send and/or receive
    bundles.  In the most familiar case, a bundle node is instantiated
    as a single process running on a general-purpose computer, but in
    general the definition is meant to be broader: a bundle node might
    alternatively be a thread, an object in an object-oriented
    operating system, a special-purpose hardware device, etc.  Each
    bundle node has three conceptual components, defined below: a
    "bundle protocol agent", a set of zero or more "convergence layer
    adapters", and an "application agent".
 Bundle protocol agent -  The bundle protocol agent (BPA) of a node is
    the node component that offers the BP services and executes the
    procedures of the bundle protocol.  The manner in which it does so
    is wholly an implementation matter.  For example, BPA
    functionality might be coded into each node individually; it might
    be implemented as a shared library that is used in common by any

Scott & Burleigh Experimental [Page 5] RFC 5050 Bundle Protocol Specification November 2007

    number of bundle nodes on a single computer; it might be
    implemented as a daemon whose services are invoked via inter-
    process or network communication by any number of bundle nodes on
    one or more computers; it might be implemented in hardware.
 Convergence layer adapters -  A convergence layer adapter (CLA) sends
    and receives bundles on behalf of the BPA, utilizing the services
    of some 'native' internet protocol that is supported in one of the
    internets within which the node is functionally located.  The
    manner in which a CLA sends and receives bundles is wholly an
    implementation matter, exactly as described for the BPA.
 Application agent -  The application agent (AA) of a node is the node
    component that utilizes the BP services to effect communication
    for some purpose.  The application agent in turn has two elements,
    an administrative element and an application-specific element.
    The application-specific element of an AA constructs, requests
    transmission of, accepts delivery of, and processes application-
    specific application data units; the only interface between the
    BPA and the application-specific element of the AA is the BP
    service interface.  The administrative element of an AA constructs
    and requests transmission of administrative records (status
    reports and custody signals), and it accepts delivery of and
    processes any custody signals that the node receives.  In addition
    to the BP service interface, there is a (conceptual) private
    control interface between the BPA and the administrative element
    of the AA that enables each to direct the other to take action
    under specific circumstances.  In the case of a node that serves
    simply as a "router" in the overlay network, the AA may have no
    application-specific element at all.  The application-specific
    elements of other nodes' AAs may perform arbitrarily complex
    application functions, perhaps even offering multiplexed DTN
    communication services to a number of other applications.  As with
    the BPA, the manner in which the AA performs its functions is
    wholly an implementation matter; in particular, the administrative
    element of an AA might be built into the library or daemon or
    hardware that implements the BPA, and the application-specific
    element of an AA might be implemented either in software or in
    hardware.
 Bundle endpoint -  A bundle endpoint (or simply "endpoint") is a set
    of zero or more bundle nodes that all identify themselves for BP
    purposes by some single text string, called a "bundle endpoint ID"
    (or, in this document, simply "endpoint ID"; endpoint IDs are
    described in detail in Section 4.4 below).  The special case of an
    endpoint that never contains more than one node is termed a
    "singleton" endpoint; every bundle node must be a member of at
    least one singleton endpoint.  Singletons are the most familiar

Scott & Burleigh Experimental [Page 6] RFC 5050 Bundle Protocol Specification November 2007

    sort of endpoint, but in general the endpoint notion is meant to
    be broader.  For example, the nodes in a sensor network might
    constitute a set of bundle nodes that identify themselves by a
    single common endpoint ID and thus form a single bundle endpoint.
    *Note* too that a given bundle node might identify itself by
    multiple endpoint IDs and thus be a member of multiple bundle
    endpoints.
 Forwarding -  When the bundle protocol agent of a node determines
    that a bundle must be "forwarded" to an endpoint, it causes the
    bundle to be sent to all of the nodes that the bundle protocol
    agent currently believes are in the "minimum reception group" of
    that endpoint.  The minimum reception group of an endpoint may be
    any one of the following: (a) ALL of the nodes registered in an
    endpoint that is permitted to contain multiple nodes (in which
    case forwarding to the endpoint is functionally similar to
    "multicast" operations in the Internet, though possibly very
    different in implementation); (b) ANY N of the nodes registered in
    an endpoint that is permitted to contain multiple nodes, where N
    is in the range from zero to the cardinality of the endpoint (in
    which case forwarding to the endpoint is functionally similar to
    "anycast" operations in the Internet); or (c) THE SOLE NODE
    registered in a singleton endpoint (in which case forwarding to
    the endpoint is functionally similar to "unicast" operations in
    the Internet).  The nature of the minimum reception group for a
    given endpoint can be determined from the endpoint's ID (again,
    see Section 4.4 below): for some endpoint ID "schemes", the nature
    of the minimum reception group is fixed - in a manner that is
    defined by the scheme - for all endpoints identified under the
    scheme; for other schemes, the nature of the minimum reception
    group is indicated by some lexical feature of the "scheme-specific
    part" of the endpoint ID, in a manner that is defined by the
    scheme.
 Registration -  A registration is the state machine characterizing a
    given node's membership in a given endpoint.  Any number of
    registrations may be concurrently associated with a given
    endpoint, and any number of registrations may be concurrently
    associated with a given node.  Any single registration must at any
    time be in one of two states: Active or Passive.  A registration
    always has an associated "delivery failure action", the action
    that is to be taken when a bundle that is "deliverable" (see
    below) subject to that registration is received at a time when the
    registration is in the Passive state.  Delivery failure action
    must be one of the following:
  • defer "delivery" (see below) of the bundle subject to this

registration until (a) this bundle is the least recently

Scott & Burleigh Experimental [Page 7] RFC 5050 Bundle Protocol Specification November 2007

       received of all bundles currently deliverable subject to this
       registration and (b) either the registration is polled or else
       the registration is in the Active state; or
  • "abandon" (see below) delivery of the bundle subject to this

registration.

    An additional implementation-specific delivery deferral procedure
    may optionally be associated with the registration.  While the
    state of a registration is Active, reception of a bundle that is
    deliverable subject to this registration must cause the bundle to
    be delivered automatically as soon as it is the least recently
    received bundle that is currently deliverable subject to the
    registration.  While the state of a registration is Passive,
    reception of a bundle that is deliverable subject to this
    registration must cause delivery of the bundle to be abandoned or
    deferred as mandated by the registration's current delivery
    failure action; in the latter case, any additional delivery
    deferral procedure associated with the registration must also be
    performed.
 Delivery -  Upon reception, the processing of a bundle that has been
    sent to a given node depends on whether or not the receiving node
    is registered in the bundle's destination endpoint.  If it is, and
    if the payload of the bundle is non-fragmentary (possibly as a
    result of successful payload reassembly from fragmentary payloads,
    including the original payload of the received bundle), then the
    bundle is normally "delivered" to the node's application agent
    subject to the registration characterizing the node's membership
    in the destination endpoint.  A bundle is considered to have been
    delivered at a node subject to a registration as soon as the
    application data unit that is the payload of the bundle, together
    with the value of the bundle's "Acknowledgement by application is
    requested" flag and any other relevant metadata (an implementation
    matter), has been presented to the node's application agent in a
    manner consistent with the state of that registration and, as
    applicable, the registration's delivery failure action.
 Deliverability, Abandonment -  A bundle is considered "deliverable"
    subject to a registration if and only if (a) the bundle's
    destination endpoint is the endpoint with which the registration
    is associated, (b) the bundle has not yet been delivered subject
    to this registration, and (c) delivery of the bundle subject to
    this registration has not been abandoned.  To "abandon" delivery
    of a bundle subject to a registration is simply to declare it no
    longer deliverable subject to that registration; normally only
    registrations' registered delivery failure actions cause
    deliveries to be abandoned.

Scott & Burleigh Experimental [Page 8] RFC 5050 Bundle Protocol Specification November 2007

 Deletion, Discarding -  A bundle protocol agent "discards" a bundle
    by simply ceasing all operations on the bundle and functionally
    erasing all references to it; the specific procedures by which
    this is accomplished are an implementation matter.  Bundles are
    discarded silently; i.e., the discarding of a bundle does not
    result in generation of an administrative record.  "Retention
    constraints" are elements of the bundle state that prevent a
    bundle from being discarded; a bundle cannot be discarded while it
    has any retention constraints.  A bundle protocol agent "deletes"
    a bundle in response to some anomalous condition by notifying the
    bundle's report-to endpoint of the deletion (provided such
    notification is warranted; see Section 5.13 for details) and then
    arbitrarily removing all of the bundle's retention constraints,
    enabling the bundle to be discarded.
 Transmission -  A transmission is a sustained effort by a node's
    bundle protocol agent to cause a bundle to be sent to all nodes in
    the minimum reception group of some endpoint (which may be the
    bundle's destination or may be some intermediate forwarding
    endpoint) in response to a transmission request issued by the
    node's application agent.  Any number of transmissions may be
    concurrently undertaken by the bundle protocol agent of a given
    node.
 Custody -  To "accept custody" upon forwarding a bundle is to commit
    to retaining a copy of the bundle -- possibly re-forwarding the
    bundle when necessary -- until custody of that bundle is
    "released".  Custody of a bundle whose destination is a singleton
    endpoint is released when either (a) notification is received that
    some other node has accepted custody of the same bundle; (b)
    notification is received that the bundle has been delivered at the
    (sole) node registered in the bundle's destination endpoint; or
    (c) the bundle is explicitly deleted for some reason, such as
    lifetime expiration.  The condition(s) under which custody of a
    bundle whose destination is not a singleton endpoint may be
    released are not defined in this specification.  To "refuse
    custody" of a bundle is to decide not to accept custody of the
    bundle.  A "custodial node" of a bundle is a node that has
    accepted custody of the bundle and has not yet released that
    custody.  A "custodian" of a bundle is a singleton endpoint whose
    sole member is one of the bundle's custodial nodes.

3.2. Implementation Architectures

 The above definitions are intended to enable the bundle protocol's
 operations to be specified in a manner that minimizes bias toward any
 particular implementation architecture.  To illustrate the range of
 interoperable implementation models that might conform to this

Scott & Burleigh Experimental [Page 9] RFC 5050 Bundle Protocol Specification November 2007

 specification, four example architectures are briefly described
 below.
 1.  Bundle protocol application server
     A single bundle protocol application server, constituting a
     single bundle node, runs as a daemon process on each computer.
     The daemon's functionality includes all functions of the bundle
     protocol agent, all convergence layer adapters, and both the
     administrative and application-specific elements of the
     application agent.  The application-specific element of the
     application agent functions as a server, offering bundle protocol
     service over a local area network: it responds to remote
     procedure calls from application processes (on the same computer
     and/or remote computers) that need to communicate via the bundle
     protocol.  The server supports its clients by creating a new
     (conceptual) node for each one and registering each such node in
     a client-specified endpoint.  The conceptual nodes managed by the
     server function as clients' bundle protocol service access
     points.
 2.  Peer application nodes
     Any number of bundle protocol application processes, each one
     constituting a single bundle node, run in ad-hoc fashion on each
     computer.  The functionality of the bundle protocol agent, all
     convergence layer adapters, and the administrative element of the
     application agent is provided by a library to which each node
     process is dynamically linked at run time.  The application-
     specific element of each node's application agent is node-
     specific application code.
 3.  Sensor network nodes
     Each node of the sensor network is the self-contained
     implementation of a single bundle node.  All functions of the
     bundle protocol agent, all convergence layer adapters, and the
     administrative element of the application agent are implemented
     in simplified form in Application-Specific Integrated Circuits
     (ASICs), while the application-specific element of each node's
     application agent is implemented in a programmable
     microcontroller.  Forwarding is rudimentary: all bundles are
     forwarded on a hard-coded default route.

Scott & Burleigh Experimental [Page 10] RFC 5050 Bundle Protocol Specification November 2007

 4.  Dedicated bundle router
     Each computer constitutes a single bundle node that functions
     solely as a high-performance bundle forwarder.  Many standard
     functions of the bundle protocol agent, the convergence layer
     adapters, and the administrative element of the application agent
     are implemented in ASICs, but some functions are implemented in a
     high-speed processor to enable reprogramming as necessary.  The
     node's application agent has no application-specific element.
     Substantial non-volatile storage resources are provided, and
     arbitrarily complex forwarding algorithms are supported.

3.3. Services Offered by Bundle Protocol Agents

 The bundle protocol agent of each node is expected to provide the
 following services to the node's application agent:
 o  commencing a registration (registering a node in an endpoint);
 o  terminating a registration;
 o  switching a registration between Active and Passive states;
 o  transmitting a bundle to an identified bundle endpoint;
 o  canceling a transmission;
 o  polling a registration that is in the passive state;
 o  delivering a received bundle.

4. Bundle Format

 Each bundle shall be a concatenated sequence of at least two block
 structures.  The first block in the sequence must be a primary bundle
 block, and no bundle may have more than one primary bundle block.
 Additional bundle protocol blocks of other types may follow the
 primary block to support extensions to the bundle protocol, such as
 the Bundle Security Protocol [BSP].  At most one of the blocks in the
 sequence may be a payload block.  The last block in the sequence must
 have the "last block" flag (in its block processing control flags)
 set to 1; for every other block in the bundle after the primary
 block, this flag must be set to zero.

Scott & Burleigh Experimental [Page 11] RFC 5050 Bundle Protocol Specification November 2007

4.1. Self-Delimiting Numeric Values (SDNVs)

 The design of the bundle protocol attempts to reconcile minimal
 consumption of transmission bandwidth with:
 o  extensibility to address requirements not yet identified, and
 o  scalability across a wide range of network scales and payload
    sizes.
 A key strategic element in the design is the use of self-delimiting
 numeric values (SDNVs).  The SDNV encoding scheme is closely adapted
 from the Abstract Syntax Notation One Basic Encoding Rules for
 subidentifiers within an object identifier value [ASN1].  An SDNV is
 a numeric value encoded in N octets, the last of which has its most
 significant bit (MSB) set to zero; the MSB of every other octet in
 the SDNV must be set to 1.  The value encoded in an SDNV is the
 unsigned binary number obtained by concatenating into a single bit
 string the 7 least significant bits of each octet of the SDNV.
 The following examples illustrate the encoding scheme for various
 hexadecimal values.
 0xABC  : 1010 1011 1100
          is encoded as
          {1 00 10101} {0 0111100}
          = 10010101 00111100
 0x1234 : 0001 0010 0011 0100
        =    1 0010 0011 0100
          is encoded as
          {1 0 100100} {0 0110100}
          = 10100100 00110100
 0x4234 : 0100 0010 0011 0100
        =  100 0010 0011 0100
          is encoded as
          {1 000000 1} {1 0000100} {0 0110100}
          = 10000001 10000100 00110100
 0x7F   : 0111 1111
        =  111 1111
          is encoded as
          {0 1111111}
          = 01111111
                        Figure 2: SDNV Example

Scott & Burleigh Experimental [Page 12] RFC 5050 Bundle Protocol Specification November 2007

 Note: Care must be taken to make sure that the value to be encoded is
 (in concept) padded with high-order zero bits to make its bitwise
 length a multiple of 7 before encoding.  Also note that, while there
 is no theoretical limit on the size of an SDNV field, the overhead of
 the SDNV scheme is 1:7, i.e., one bit of overhead for every 7 bits of
 actual data to be encoded.  Thus, a 7-octet value (a 56-bit quantity
 with no leading zeroes) would be encoded in an 8-octet SDNV; an
 8-octet value (a 64-bit quantity with no leading zeroes) would be
 encoded in a 10-octet SDNV (one octet containing the high-order bit
 of the value padded with six leading zero bits, followed by nine
 octets containing the remaining 63 bits of the value). 148 bits of
 overhead would be consumed in encoding a 1024-bit RSA encryption key
 directly in an SDNV.  In general, an N-bit quantity with no leading
 zeroes is encoded in an SDNV occupying ceil(N/7) octets, where ceil
 is the integer ceiling function.
 Implementations of the bundle protocol may handle as an invalid
 numeric value any SDNV that encodes an integer that is larger than
 (2^64 - 1).
 An SDNV can be used to represent both very large and very small
 integer values.  However, SDNV is clearly not the best way to
 represent every numeric value.  For example, an SDNV is a poor way to
 represent an integer whose value typically falls in the range 128 to
 255.  In general, though, we believe that SDNV representation of
 numeric values in bundle blocks yields the smallest block sizes
 without sacrificing scalability.

4.2. Bundle Processing Control Flags

 The bundle processing control flags field in the primary bundle block
 of each bundle is an SDNV; the value encoded in this SDNV is a string
 of bits used to invoke selected bundle processing control features.
 The significance of the value in each currently defined position of
 this bit string is described here.  Note that in the figure and
 descriptions, the bit label numbers denote position (from least
 significant ('0') to most significant) within the decoded bit string,
 and not within the representation of the bits on the wire.  This is
 why the descriptions in this section and the next do not follow
 standard RFC conventions with bit 0 on the left; if fields are added
 in the future, the SDNV will grow to the left, and using this
 representation allows the references here to remain valid.

Scott & Burleigh Experimental [Page 13] RFC 5050 Bundle Protocol Specification November 2007

          2                   1                   0
          0 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0
         +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
         |Status Report|Class of Svc.|   General   |
         +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
         Figure 3: Bundle Processing Control Flags Bit Layout
 The bits in positions 0 through 6 are flags that characterize the
 bundle as follows:
 0 --   Bundle is a fragment.
 1 --   Application data unit is an administrative record.
 2 --   Bundle must not be fragmented.
 3 --   Custody transfer is requested.
 4 --   Destination endpoint is a singleton.
 5 --   Acknowledgement by application is requested.
 6 --   Reserved for future use.
 The bits in positions 7 through 13 are used to indicate the bundle's
 class of service.  The bits in positions 8 and 7 constitute a two-bit
 priority field indicating the bundle's priority, with higher values
 being of higher priority: 00 = bulk, 01 = normal, 10 = expedited, 11
 is reserved for future use.  Within this field, bit 8 is the most
 significant bit.  The bits in positions 9 through 13 are reserved for
 future use.
 The bits in positions 14 through 20 are status report request flags.
 These flags are used to request status reports as follows:
 14 --   Request reporting of bundle reception.
 15 --   Request reporting of custody acceptance.
 16 --   Request reporting of bundle forwarding.
 17 --   Request reporting of bundle delivery.
 18 --   Request reporting of bundle deletion.
 19 --   Reserved for future use.

Scott & Burleigh Experimental [Page 14] RFC 5050 Bundle Protocol Specification November 2007

 20 --   Reserved for future use.
 If the bundle processing control flags indicate that the bundle's
 application data unit is an administrative record, then the custody
 transfer requested flag must be zero and all status report request
 flags must be zero.  If the custody transfer requested flag is 1,
 then the sending node requests that the receiving node accept custody
 of the bundle.  If the bundle's source endpoint ID is "dtn:none" (see
 below), then the bundle is not uniquely identifiable and all bundle
 protocol features that rely on bundle identity must therefore be
 disabled: the bundle's custody transfer requested flag must be zero,
 the "Bundle must not be fragmented" flag must be 1, and all status
 report request flags must be zero.

4.3. Block Processing Control Flags

 The block processing control flags field in every block other than
 the primary bundle block is an SDNV; the value encoded in this SDNV
 is a string of bits used to invoke selected block processing control
 features.  The significance of the values in all currently defined
 positions of this bit string, in order from least significant
 position in the decoded bit string (labeled '0') to most significant
 (labeled '6'), is described here.
                      0
          6 5 4 3 2 1 0
         +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
         |   Flags     |
         +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
          Figure 4: Block Processing Control Flags Bit Layout
    0 - Block must be replicated in every fragment.
    1 - Transmit status report if block can't be processed.
    2 - Delete bundle if block can't be processed.
    3 - Last block.
    4 - Discard block if it can't be processed.
    5 - Block was forwarded without being processed.
    6 - Block contains an EID-reference field.

Scott & Burleigh Experimental [Page 15] RFC 5050 Bundle Protocol Specification November 2007

 For each bundle whose primary block's bundle processing control flags
 (see above) indicate that the bundle's application data unit is an
 administrative record, the "Transmit status report if block can't be
 processed" flag in the block processing flags field of every other
 block in the bundle must be zero.
 The 'Block must be replicated in every fragment' bit in the block
 processing flags must be set to zero on all blocks that follow the
 payload block.

4.4. Endpoint IDs

 The destinations of bundles are bundle endpoints, identified by text
 strings termed "endpoint IDs" (see Section 3.1).  Each endpoint ID
 conveyed in any bundle block takes the form of a Uniform Resource
 Identifier (URI; [URI]).  As such, each endpoint ID can be
 characterized as having this general structure:
 < scheme name > : < scheme-specific part, or "SSP" >
 As used for the purposes of the bundle protocol, neither the length
 of a scheme name nor the length of an SSP may exceed 1023 bytes.
 Bundle blocks cite a number of endpoint IDs for various purposes of
 the bundle protocol.  Many, though not necessarily all, of the
 endpoint IDs referred to in the blocks of a given bundle are conveyed
 in the "dictionary" byte array in the bundle's primary block.  This
 array is simply the concatenation of any number of null-terminated
 scheme names and SSPs.
 "Endpoint ID references" are used to cite endpoint IDs that are
 contained in the dictionary; all endpoint ID citations in the primary
 bundle block are endpoint ID references, and other bundle blocks may
 contain endpoint ID references as well.  Each endpoint ID reference
 is an ordered pair of SDNVs:
 o  The first SDNV contains the offset within the dictionary of the
    first character of the referenced endpoint ID's scheme name.
 o  The second SDNV contains the offset within the dictionary of the
    first character of the referenced endpoint ID's SSP.
 This encoding enables a degree of block compression: when the source
 and report-to of a bundle are the same endpoint, for example, the
 text of that endpoint's ID may be cited twice yet appear only once in
 the dictionary.

Scott & Burleigh Experimental [Page 16] RFC 5050 Bundle Protocol Specification November 2007

 The scheme identified by the < scheme name > in an endpoint ID is a
 set of syntactic and semantic rules that fully explain how to parse
 and interpret the SSP.  The set of allowable schemes is effectively
 unlimited.  Any scheme conforming to [URIREG] may be used in a bundle
 protocol endpoint ID.  In addition, a single additional scheme is
 defined by the present document:
 o  The "dtn" scheme, which is used at minimum in the representation
    of the null endpoint ID "dtn:none".  The forwarding of a bundle to
    the null endpoint is never contraindicated, and the minimum
    reception group for the null endpoint is the empty set.
 Note that, although the endpoint IDs conveyed in bundle blocks are
 expressed as URIs, implementations of the BP service interface may
 support expression of endpoint IDs in some internationalized manner
 (e.g., Internationalized Resource Identifiers (IRIs); see [RFC3987]).

4.5. Formats of Bundle Blocks

 This section describes the formats of the primary block and payload
 block.  Rules for processing these blocks appear in Section 5 of this
 document.
 Note that supplementary DTN protocol specifications (including, but
 not restricted to, the Bundle Security Protocol [BSP]) may require
 that BP implementations conforming to those protocols construct and
 process additional blocks.
 The format of the two basic BP blocks is shown in Figure 5 below.

Scott & Burleigh Experimental [Page 17] RFC 5050 Bundle Protocol Specification November 2007

 Primary Bundle Block
 +----------------+----------------+----------------+----------------+
 |    Version     |                  Proc. Flags (*)                 |
 +----------------+----------------+----------------+----------------+
 |                          Block length (*)                         |
 +----------------+----------------+---------------------------------+
 |   Destination scheme offset (*) |     Destination SSP offset (*)  |
 +----------------+----------------+----------------+----------------+
 |      Source scheme offset (*)   |        Source SSP offset (*)    |
 +----------------+----------------+----------------+----------------+
 |    Report-to scheme offset (*)  |      Report-to SSP offset (*)   |
 +----------------+----------------+----------------+----------------+
 |    Custodian scheme offset (*)  |      Custodian SSP offset (*)   |
 +----------------+----------------+----------------+----------------+
 |                    Creation Timestamp time (*)                    |
 +---------------------------------+---------------------------------+
 |             Creation Timestamp sequence number (*)                |
 +---------------------------------+---------------------------------+
 |                           Lifetime (*)                            |
 +----------------+----------------+----------------+----------------+
 |                        Dictionary length (*)                      |
 +----------------+----------------+----------------+----------------+
 |                  Dictionary byte array (variable)                 |
 +----------------+----------------+---------------------------------+
 |                      [Fragment offset (*)]                        |
 +----------------+----------------+---------------------------------+
 |              [Total application data unit length (*)]             |
 +----------------+----------------+---------------------------------+
 Bundle Payload Block
 +----------------+----------------+----------------+----------------+
 |  Block type    | Proc. Flags (*)|        Block length(*)          |
 +----------------+----------------+----------------+----------------+
 /                     Bundle Payload (variable)                     /
 +-------------------------------------------------------------------+
                    Figure 5: Bundle Block Formats
 (*) Notes:
 The bundle processing control ("Proc.") flags field in the Primary
 Bundle Block is an SDNV and is therefore variable length.  A three-
 octet SDNV is shown here for convenience in representation.
 The block length field of the Primary Bundle Block is an SDNV and is
 therefore variable length.  A four-octet SDNV is shown here for
 convenience in representation.

Scott & Burleigh Experimental [Page 18] RFC 5050 Bundle Protocol Specification November 2007

 Each of the eight offset fields in the Primary Bundle Block is an
 SDNV and is therefore variable length.  Two-octet SDNVs are shown
 here for convenience in representation.
 The Creation Timestamp time field in the Primary Bundle Block is an
 SDNV and is therefore variable length.  A four-octet SDNV is shown
 here for convenience in representation.
 The Creation Timestamp sequence number field in the Primary Bundle
 Block is an SDNV and is therefore variable length.  A four-octet SDNV
 is shown here for convenience in representation.
 The Lifetime field in the Primary Bundle Block is an SDNV and is
 therefore variable length.  A four-octet SDNV is shown here for
 convenience in representation.
 The dictionary length field of the Primary Bundle Block is an SDNV
 and is therefore variable length.  A four-octet SDNV is shown here
 for convenience in representation.
 The fragment offset field of the Primary Bundle Block is present only
 if the Fragment flag in the block's processing flags byte is set to
 1.  It is an SDNV and is therefore variable length; a four-octet SDNV
 is shown here for convenience in representation.
 The total application data unit length field of the Primary Bundle
 Block is present only if the Fragment flag in the block's processing
 flags byte is set to 1.  It is an SDNV and is therefore variable
 length; a four-octet SDNV is shown here for convenience in
 representation.
 The block processing control ("Proc.") flags field of the Payload
 Block is an SDNV and is therefore variable length.  A one-octet SDNV
 is shown here for convenience in representation.
 The block length field of the Payload Block is an SDNV and is
 therefore variable length.  A two-octet SDNV is shown here for
 convenience in representation.

4.5.1. Primary Bundle Block

 The primary bundle block contains the basic information needed to
 route bundles to their destinations.  The fields of the primary
 bundle block are:

Scott & Burleigh Experimental [Page 19] RFC 5050 Bundle Protocol Specification November 2007

 Version:   A 1-byte field indicating the version of the bundle
    protocol that constructed this block.  The present document
    describes version 0x06 of the bundle protocol.
 Bundle Processing Control Flags:   The Bundle Processing Control
    Flags field is an SDNV that contains the bundle processing control
    flags discussed in Section 4.2 above.
 Block Length:   The Block Length field is an SDNV that contains the
    aggregate length of all remaining fields of the block.
 Destination Scheme Offset:   The Destination Scheme Offset field
    contains the offset within the dictionary byte array of the scheme
    name of the endpoint ID of the bundle's destination, i.e., the
    endpoint containing the node(s) at which the bundle is to be
    delivered.
 Destination SSP Offset:   The Destination SSP Offset field contains
    the offset within the dictionary byte array of the scheme-specific
    part of the endpoint ID of the bundle's destination.
 Source Scheme Offset:   The Source Scheme Offset field contains the
    offset within the dictionary byte array of the scheme name of the
    endpoint ID of the bundle's nominal source, i.e., the endpoint
    nominally containing the node from which the bundle was initially
    transmitted.
 Source SSP Offset:   The Source SSP Offset field contains the offset
    within the dictionary byte array of the scheme-specific part of
    the endpoint ID of the bundle's nominal source.
 Report-to Scheme Offset:   The Report-to Scheme Offset field contains
    the offset within the dictionary byte array of the scheme name of
    the ID of the endpoint to which status reports pertaining to the
    forwarding and delivery of this bundle are to be transmitted.
 Report-to SSP Offset:   The Report-to SSP Offset field contains the
    offset within the dictionary byte array of the scheme-specific
    part of the ID of the endpoint to which status reports pertaining
    to the forwarding and delivery of this bundle are to be
    transmitted.
 Custodian Scheme Offset:   The "current custodian endpoint ID" of a
    primary bundle block identifies an endpoint whose membership
    includes the node that most recently accepted custody of the
    bundle upon forwarding this bundle.  The Custodian Scheme Offset
    field contains the offset within the dictionary byte array of the
    scheme name of the current custodian endpoint ID.

Scott & Burleigh Experimental [Page 20] RFC 5050 Bundle Protocol Specification November 2007

 Custodian SSP Offset:   The Custodian SSP Offset field contains the
    offset within the dictionary byte array of the scheme-specific
    part of the current custodian endpoint ID.
 Creation Timestamp:   The creation timestamp is a pair of SDNVs that,
    together with the source endpoint ID and (if the bundle is a
    fragment) the fragment offset and payload length, serve to
    identify the bundle.  The first SDNV of the timestamp is the
    bundle's creation time, while the second is the bundle's creation
    timestamp sequence number.  Bundle creation time is the time --
    expressed in seconds since the start of the year 2000, on the
    Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) scale [UTC] -- at which the
    transmission request was received that resulted in the creation of
    the bundle.  Sequence count is the latest value (as of the time at
    which that transmission request was received) of a monotonically
    increasing positive integer counter managed by the source node's
    bundle protocol agent that may be reset to zero whenever the
    current time advances by one second.  A source Bundle Protocol
    Agent must never create two distinct bundles with the same source
    endpoint ID and bundle creation timestamp.  The combination of
    source endpoint ID and bundle creation timestamp therefore serves
    to identify a single transmission request, enabling it to be
    acknowledged by the receiving application (provided the source
    endpoint ID is not "dtn:none").
 Lifetime:   The lifetime field is an SDNV that indicates the time at
    which the bundle's payload will no longer be useful, encoded as a
    number of seconds past the creation time.  When the current time
    is greater than the creation time plus the lifetime, bundle nodes
    need no longer retain or forward the bundle; the bundle may be
    deleted from the network.
 Dictionary Length:   The Dictionary Length field is an SDNV that
    contains the length of the dictionary byte array.
 Dictionary:   The Dictionary field is an array of bytes formed by
    concatenating the null-terminated scheme names and SSPs of all
    endpoint IDs referenced by any fields in this Primary Block
    together with, potentially, other endpoint IDs referenced by
    fields in other TBD DTN protocol blocks.  Its length is given by
    the value of the Dictionary Length field.
 Fragment Offset:   If the Bundle Processing Control Flags of this
    Primary block indicate that the bundle is a fragment, then the
    Fragment Offset field is an SDNV indicating the offset from the
    start of the original application data unit at which the bytes
    comprising the payload of this bundle were located.  If not, then
    the Fragment Offset field is omitted from the block.

Scott & Burleigh Experimental [Page 21] RFC 5050 Bundle Protocol Specification November 2007

 Total Application Data Unit Length:   If the Bundle Processing
    Control Flags of this Primary block indicate that the bundle is a
    fragment, then the Total Application Data Unit Length field is an
    SDNV indicating the total length of the original application data
    unit of which this bundle's payload is a part.  If not, then the
    Total Application Data Unit Length field is omitted from the
    block.

4.5.2. Canonical Bundle Block Format

 Every bundle block of every type other than the primary bundle block
 comprises the following fields, in this order:
 o  Block type code, expressed as an 8-bit unsigned binary integer.
    Bundle block type code 1 indicates that the block is a bundle
    payload block.  Block type codes 192 through 255 are not defined
    in this specification and are available for private and/or
    experimental use.  All other values of the block type code are
    reserved for future use.
 o  Block processing control flags, an unsigned integer expressed as
    an SDNV.  The individual bits of this integer are used to invoke
    selected block processing control features.
 o  Block EID reference count and EID references (optional).  If and
    only if the block references EID elements in the primary block's
    dictionary, the 'block contains an EID-reference field' flag in
    the block processing control flags is set to 1 and the block
    includes an EID reference field consisting of a count of EID
    references expressed as an SDNV followed by the EID references
    themselves.  Each EID reference is a pair of SDNVs.  The first
    SDNV of each EID reference contains the offset of a scheme name in
    the primary block's dictionary, and the second SDNV of each
    reference contains the offset of a scheme-specific part in the
    dictionary.
 o  Block data length, an unsigned integer expressed as an SDNV.  The
    Block data length field contains the aggregate length of all
    remaining fields of the block, i.e., the block-type-specific data
    fields.
 o  Block-type-specific data fields, whose format and order are type-
    specific and whose aggregate length in octets is the value of the
    block data length field.  All multi-byte block-type-specific data
    fields are represented in network byte order.

Scott & Burleigh Experimental [Page 22] RFC 5050 Bundle Protocol Specification November 2007

        +-----------+-----------+-----------+-----------+
        |Block type | Block processing ctrl flags (SDNV)|
        +-----------+-----------+-----------+-----------+
        |            Block length  (SDNV)               |
        +-----------+-----------+-----------+-----------+
        /          Block body data (variable)           /
        +-----------+-----------+-----------+-----------+
           Figure 6: Block Layout without EID Reference List
        +-----------+-----------+-----------+-----------+
        |Block Type | Block processing ctrl flags (SDNV)|
        +-----------+-----------+-----------+-----------+
        |        EID Reference Count  (SDNV)            |
        +-----------+-----------+-----------+-----------+
        |  Ref_scheme_1 (SDNV)  |    Ref_ssp_1 (SDNV)   |
        +-----------+-----------+-----------+-----------+
        |  Ref_scheme_2 (SDNV)  |    Ref_ssp_2 (SDNV)   |
        +-----------+-----------+-----------+-----------+
        |            Block length  (SDNV)               |
        +-----------+-----------+-----------+-----------+
        /          Block body data (variable)           /
        +-----------+-----------+-----------+-----------+
           Figure 7: Block Layout Showing Two EID References

4.5.3. Bundle Payload Block

 The fields of the bundle payload block are:
 Block Type:   The Block Type field is a 1-byte field that indicates
    the type of the block.  For the bundle payload block, this field
    contains the value 1.
 Block Processing Control Flags:   The Block Processing Control Flags
    field is an SDNV that contains the block processing control flags
    discussed in Section 4.3 above.
 Block Length:   The Block Length field is an SDNV that contains the
    aggregate length of all remaining fields of the block - which is
    to say, the length of the bundle's payload.
 Payload:   The Payload field contains the application data carried by
    this bundle.
 That is, bundle payload blocks follow the canonical format of the
 previous section with the restriction that the 'block contains an

Scott & Burleigh Experimental [Page 23] RFC 5050 Bundle Protocol Specification November 2007

 EID-reference field' bit of the block processing control flags is
 never set.  The block body data for payload blocks is the application
 data carried by the bundle.

4.6. Extension Blocks

 "Extension blocks" are all blocks other than the primary and payload
 blocks.  Because extension blocks are not defined in the Bundle
 Protocol specification (the present document), not all nodes
 conforming to this specification will necessarily instantiate Bundle
 Protocol implementations that include procedures for processing (that
 is, recognizing, parsing, acting on, and/or producing) all extension
 blocks.  It is therefore possible for a node to receive a bundle that
 includes extension blocks that the node cannot process.
 Whenever a bundle is forwarded that contains one or more extension
 blocks that could not be processed, the "Block was forwarded without
 being processed" flag must be set to 1 within the block processing
 flags of each such block.  For each block flagged in this way, the
 flag may optionally be cleared (i.e., set to zero) by another node
 that subsequently receives the bundle and is able to process that
 block; the specifications defining the various extension blocks are
 expected to define the circumstances under which this flag may be
 cleared, if any.

4.7. Dictionary Revision

 Any strings (scheme names and SSPs) in a bundle's dictionary that are
 referenced neither from the bundle's primary block nor from the block
 EID reference field of any extension block may be removed from the
 dictionary at the time the bundle is forwarded.
 Whenever removal of a string from the dictionary causes the offsets
 (within the dictionary byte array) of any other strings to change,
 all endpoint ID references that refer to those strings must be
 adjusted at the same time.  Note that these references may be in the
 primary block and/or in the block EID reference fields of extension
 blocks.

5. Bundle Processing

 The bundle processing procedures mandated in this section and in
 Section 6 govern the operation of the Bundle Protocol Agent and the
 Application Agent administrative element of each bundle node.  They
 are neither exhaustive nor exclusive.  That is, supplementary DTN
 protocol specifications (including, but not restricted to, the Bundle
 Security Protocol [BSP]) may require that additional measures be
 taken at specified junctures in these procedures.  Such additional

Scott & Burleigh Experimental [Page 24] RFC 5050 Bundle Protocol Specification November 2007

 measures shall not override or supersede the mandated bundle protocol
 procedures, except that they may in some cases make these procedures
 moot by requiring, for example, that implementations conforming to
 the supplementary protocol terminate the processing of a given
 incoming or outgoing bundle due to a fault condition recognized by
 that protocol.

5.1. Generation of Administrative Records

 All initial transmission of bundles is in response to bundle
 transmission requests presented by nodes' application agents.  When
 required to "generate" an administrative record (a bundle status
 report or a custody signal), the bundle protocol agent itself is
 responsible for causing a new bundle to be transmitted, conveying
 that record.  In concept, the bundle protocol agent discharges this
 responsibility by directing the administrative element of the node's
 application agent to construct the record and request its
 transmission as detailed in Section 6 below.  In practice, the manner
 in which administrative record generation is accomplished is an
 implementation matter, provided the constraints noted in Section 6
 are observed.
 Under some circumstances, the requesting of status reports could
 result in an unacceptable increase in the bundle traffic in the
 network.  For this reason, the generation of status reports is
 mandatory only in one case, the deletion of a bundle for which
 custody transfer is requested.  In all other cases, the decision on
 whether or not to generate a requested status report is left to the
 discretion of the bundle protocol agent.  Mechanisms that could
 assist in making such decisions, such as pre-placed agreements
 authorizing the generation of status reports under specified
 circumstances, are beyond the scope of this specification.
 Notes on administrative record terminology:
 o  A "bundle reception status report" is a bundle status report with
    the "reporting node received bundle" flag set to 1.
 o  A "custody acceptance status report" is a bundle status report
    with the "reporting node accepted custody of bundle" flag set to
    1.
 o  A "bundle forwarding status report" is a bundle status report with
    the "reporting node forwarded the bundle" flag set to 1.
 o  A "bundle delivery status report" is a bundle status report with
    the "reporting node delivered the bundle" flag set to 1.

Scott & Burleigh Experimental [Page 25] RFC 5050 Bundle Protocol Specification November 2007

 o  A "bundle deletion status report" is a bundle status report with
    the "reporting node deleted the bundle" flag set to 1.
 o  A "Succeeded" custody signal is a custody signal with the "custody
    transfer succeeded" flag set to 1.
 o  A "Failed" custody signal is a custody signal with the "custody
    transfer succeeded" flag set to zero.
 o  The "current custodian" of a bundle is the endpoint identified by
    the current custodian endpoint ID in the bundle's primary block.

5.2. Bundle Transmission

 The steps in processing a bundle transmission request are:
 Step 1:   If custody transfer is requested for this bundle
    transmission and, moreover, custody acceptance by the source node
    is required, then either the bundle protocol agent must commit to
    accepting custody of the bundle -- in which case processing
    proceeds from Step 2 -- or the request cannot be honored and all
    remaining steps of this procedure must be skipped.  The bundle
    protocol agent must not commit to accepting custody of a bundle if
    the conditions under which custody of the bundle may be accepted
    are not satisfied.  The conditions under which a node may accept
    custody of a bundle whose destination is not a singleton endpoint
    are not defined in this specification.
 Step 2:   Transmission of the bundle is initiated.  An outbound
    bundle must be created per the parameters of the bundle
    transmission request, with current custodian endpoint ID set to
    the null endpoint ID "dtn:none" and with the retention constraint
    "Dispatch pending".  The source endpoint ID of the bundle must be
    either the ID of an endpoint of which the node is a member or the
    null endpoint ID "dtn:none".
 Step 3:   Processing proceeds from Step 1 of Section 5.4.

5.3. Bundle Dispatching

 The steps in dispatching a bundle are:
 Step 1:   If the bundle's destination endpoint is an endpoint of
    which the node is a member, the bundle delivery procedure defined
    in Section 5.7 must be followed.
 Step 2:   Processing proceeds from Step 1 of Section 5.4.

Scott & Burleigh Experimental [Page 26] RFC 5050 Bundle Protocol Specification November 2007

5.4. Bundle Forwarding

 The steps in forwarding a bundle are:
 Step 1:   The retention constraint "Forward pending" must be added to
    the bundle, and the bundle's "Dispatch pending" retention
    constraint must be removed.
 Step 2:   The bundle protocol agent must determine whether or not
    forwarding is contraindicated for any of the reasons listed in
    Figure 12.  In particular:
  • The bundle protocol agent must determine which endpoint(s) to

forward the bundle to. The bundle protocol agent may choose

       either to forward the bundle directly to its destination
       endpoint (if possible) or to forward the bundle to some other
       endpoint(s) for further forwarding.  The manner in which this
       decision is made may depend on the scheme name in the
       destination endpoint ID but in any case is beyond the scope of
       this document.  If the agent finds it impossible to select any
       endpoint(s) to forward the bundle to, then forwarding is
       contraindicated.
  • Provided the bundle protocol agent succeeded in selecting the

endpoint(s) to forward the bundle to, the bundle protocol agent

       must select the convergence layer adapter(s) whose services
       will enable the node to send the bundle to the nodes of the
       minimum reception group of each selected endpoint.  The manner
       in which the appropriate convergence layer adapters are
       selected may depend on the scheme name in the destination
       endpoint ID but in any case is beyond the scope of this
       document.  If the agent finds it impossible to select
       convergence layer adapters to use in forwarding this bundle,
       then forwarding is contraindicated.
 Step 3:   If forwarding of the bundle is determined to be
    contraindicated for any of the reasons listed in Figure 12, then
    the Forwarding Contraindicated procedure defined in Section 5.4.1
    must be followed; the remaining steps of Section 5 are skipped at
    this time.
 Step 4:   If the bundle's custody transfer requested flag (in the
    bundle processing flags field) is set to 1, then the custody
    transfer procedure defined in Section 5.10.2 must be followed.

Scott & Burleigh Experimental [Page 27] RFC 5050 Bundle Protocol Specification November 2007

 Step 5:   For each endpoint selected for forwarding, the bundle
    protocol agent must invoke the services of the selected
    convergence layer adapter(s) in order to effect the sending of the
    bundle to the nodes constituting the minimum reception group of
    that endpoint.  Determining the time at which the bundle is to be
    sent by each convergence layer adapter is an implementation
    matter.
    To keep from possibly invalidating bundle security, the sequencing
    of the blocks in a forwarded bundle must not be changed as it
    transits a node; received blocks must be transmitted in the same
    relative order as that in which they were received.  While blocks
    may be added to bundles as they transit intermediate nodes,
    removal of blocks that do not have their 'Discard block if it
    can't be processed' flag in the block processing control flags set
    to 1 may cause security to fail.
 Step 6:   When all selected convergence layer adapters have informed
    the bundle protocol agent that they have concluded their data
    sending procedures with regard to this bundle:
  • If the "request reporting of bundle forwarding" flag in the

bundle's status report request field is set to 1, then a bundle

       forwarding status report should be generated, destined for the
       bundle's report-to endpoint ID.  If the bundle has the
       retention constraint "custody accepted" and all of the nodes in
       the minimum reception group of the endpoint selected for
       forwarding are known to be unable to send bundles back to this
       node, then the reason code on this bundle forwarding status
       report must be "forwarded over unidirectional link"; otherwise,
       the reason code must be "no additional information".
  • The bundle's "Forward pending" retention constraint must be

removed.

5.4.1. Forwarding Contraindicated

 The steps in responding to contraindication of forwarding for some
 reason are:
 Step 1:   The bundle protocol agent must determine whether or not to
    declare failure in forwarding the bundle for this reason.  Note:
    this decision is likely to be influenced by the reason for which
    forwarding is contraindicated.

Scott & Burleigh Experimental [Page 28] RFC 5050 Bundle Protocol Specification November 2007

 Step 2:   If forwarding failure is declared, then the Forwarding
    Failed procedure defined in Section 5.4.2 must be followed.
    Otherwise, (a) if the bundle's custody transfer requested flag (in
    the bundle processing flags field) is set to 1, then the custody
    transfer procedure defined in Section 5.10 must be followed; (b)
    when -- at some future time - the forwarding of this bundle ceases
    to be contraindicated, processing proceeds from Step 5 of
    Section 5.4.

5.4.2. Forwarding Failed

 The steps in responding to a declaration of forwarding failure for
 some reason are:
 Step 1:   If the bundle's custody transfer requested flag (in the
    bundle processing flags field) is set to 1, custody transfer
    failure must be handled.  Procedures for handling failure of
    custody transfer for a bundle whose destination is not a singleton
    endpoint are not defined in this specification.  For a bundle
    whose destination is a singleton endpoint, the bundle protocol
    agent must handle the custody transfer failure by generating a
    "Failed" custody signal for the bundle, destined for the bundle's
    current custodian; the custody signal must contain a reason code
    corresponding to the reason for which forwarding was determined to
    be contraindicated.  (Note that discarding the bundle will not
    delete it from the network, since the current custodian still has
    a copy.)
 Step 2:   If the bundle's destination endpoint is an endpoint of
    which the node is a member, then the bundle's "Forward pending"
    retention constraint must be removed.  Otherwise, the bundle must
    be deleted: the bundle deletion procedure defined in Section 5.13
    must be followed, citing the reason for which forwarding was
    determined to be contraindicated.

5.5. Bundle Expiration

 A bundle expires when the current time is greater than the bundle's
 creation time plus its lifetime as specified in the primary bundle
 block.  Bundle expiration may occur at any point in the processing of
 a bundle.  When a bundle expires, the bundle protocol agent must
 delete the bundle for the reason "lifetime expired": the bundle
 deletion procedure defined in Section 5.13 must be followed.

Scott & Burleigh Experimental [Page 29] RFC 5050 Bundle Protocol Specification November 2007

5.6. Bundle Reception

 The steps in processing a bundle received from another node are:
 Step 1:   The retention constraint "Dispatch pending" must be added
    to the bundle.
 Step 2:   If the "request reporting of bundle reception" flag in the
    bundle's status report request field is set to 1, then a bundle
    reception status report with reason code "No additional
    information" should be generated, destined for the bundle's
    report-to endpoint ID.
 Step 3:   For each block in the bundle that is an extension block
    that the bundle protocol agent cannot process:
  • If the block processing flags in that block indicate that a

status report is requested in this event, then a bundle

       reception status report with reason code "Block unintelligible"
       should be generated, destined for the bundle's report-to
       endpoint ID.
  • If the block processing flags in that block indicate that the

bundle must be deleted in this event, then the bundle protocol

       agent must delete the bundle for the reason "Block
       unintelligible"; the bundle deletion procedure defined in
       Section 5.13 must be followed and all remaining steps of the
       bundle reception procedure must be skipped.
  • If the block processing flags in that block do NOT indicate

that the bundle must be deleted in this event but do indicate

       that the block must be discarded, then the bundle protocol
       agent must remove this block from the bundle.
  • If the block processing flags in that block indicate NEITHER

that the bundle must be deleted NOR that the block must be

       discarded, then the bundle protocol agent must set to 1 the
       "Block was forwarded without being processed" flag in the block
       processing flags of the block.
 Step 4:   If the bundle's custody transfer requested flag (in the
    bundle processing flags field) is set to 1 and the bundle has the
    same source endpoint ID, creation timestamp, and (if the bundle is
    a fragment) fragment offset and payload length as another bundle
    that (a) has not been discarded and (b) currently has the
    retention constraint "Custody accepted", custody transfer
    redundancy must be handled.  Otherwise, processing proceeds from
    Step 5.  Procedures for handling redundancy in custody transfer

Scott & Burleigh Experimental [Page 30] RFC 5050 Bundle Protocol Specification November 2007

    for a bundle whose destination is not a singleton endpoint are not
    defined in this specification.  For a bundle whose destination is
    a singleton endpoint, the bundle protocol agent must handle
    custody transfer redundancy by generating a "Failed" custody
    signal for this bundle with reason code "Redundant reception",
    destined for this bundle's current custodian, and removing this
    bundle's "Dispatch pending" retention constraint.
 Step 5:   Processing proceeds from Step 1 of Section 5.3.

5.7. Local Bundle Delivery

 The steps in processing a bundle that is destined for an endpoint of
 which this node is a member are:
 Step 1:   If the received bundle is a fragment, the application data
    unit reassembly procedure described in Section 5.9 must be
    followed.  If this procedure results in reassembly of the entire
    original application data unit, processing of this bundle (whose
    fragmentary payload has been replaced by the reassembled
    application data unit) proceeds from Step 2; otherwise, the
    retention constraint "Reassembly pending" must be added to the
    bundle and all remaining steps of this procedure are skipped.
 Step 2:   Delivery depends on the state of the registration whose
    endpoint ID matches that of the destination of the bundle:
  • If the registration is in the Active state, then the bundle

must be delivered subject to this registration (see Section 3.1

       above) as soon as all previously received bundles that are
       deliverable subject to this registration have been delivered.
  • If the registration is in the Passive state, then the

registration's delivery failure action must be taken (see

       Section 3.1 above).
 Step 3:   As soon as the bundle has been delivered:
  • If the "request reporting of bundle delivery" flag in the

bundle's status report request field is set to 1, then a bundle

       delivery status report should be generated, destined for the
       bundle's report-to endpoint ID.  Note that this status report
       only states that the payload has been delivered to the
       application agent, not that the application agent has processed
       that payload.

Scott & Burleigh Experimental [Page 31] RFC 5050 Bundle Protocol Specification November 2007

  • If the bundle's custody transfer requested flag (in the bundle

processing flags field) is set to 1, custodial delivery must be

       reported.  Procedures for reporting custodial delivery for a
       bundle whose destination is not a singleton endpoint are not
       defined in this specification.  For a bundle whose destination
       is a singleton endpoint, the bundle protocol agent must report
       custodial delivery by generating a "Succeeded" custody signal
       for the bundle, destined for the bundle's current custodian.

5.8. Bundle Fragmentation

 It may at times be necessary for bundle protocol agents to reduce the
 sizes of bundles in order to forward them.  This might be the case,
 for example, if the endpoint to which a bundle is to be forwarded is
 accessible only via intermittent contacts and no upcoming contact is
 long enough to enable the forwarding of the entire bundle.
 The size of a bundle can be reduced by "fragmenting" the bundle.  To
 fragment a bundle whose payload is of size M is to replace it with
 two "fragments" -- new bundles with the same source endpoint ID and
 creation timestamp as the original bundle -- whose payloads are the
 first N and the last (M - N) bytes of the original bundle's payload,
 where 0 < N < M.  Note that fragments may themselves be fragmented,
 so fragmentation may in effect replace the original bundle with more
 than two fragments.  (However, there is only one 'level' of
 fragmentation, as in IP fragmentation.)
 Any bundle whose primary block's bundle processing flags do NOT
 indicate that it must not be fragmented may be fragmented at any
 time, for any purpose, at the discretion of the bundle protocol
 agent.
 Fragmentation shall be constrained as follows:
 o  The concatenation of the payloads of all fragments produced by
    fragmentation must always be identical to the payload of the
    bundle that was fragmented.  Note that the payloads of fragments
    resulting from different fragmentation episodes, in different
    parts of the network, may be overlapping subsets of the original
    bundle's payload.
 o  The bundle processing flags in the primary block of each fragment
    must be modified to indicate that the bundle is a fragment, and
    both fragment offset and total application data unit length must
    be provided at the end of each fragment's primary bundle block.
 o  The primary blocks of the fragments will differ from that of the
    fragmented bundle as noted above.

Scott & Burleigh Experimental [Page 32] RFC 5050 Bundle Protocol Specification November 2007

 o  The payload blocks of fragments will differ from that of the
    fragmented bundle as noted above.
 o  All blocks that precede the payload block at the time of
    fragmentation must be replicated in the fragment with the lowest
    offset.
 o  All blocks that follow the payload block at the time of
    fragmentation must be replicated in the fragment with the highest
    offset.
 o  If the 'Block must be replicated in every fragment' bit is set to
    1, then the block must be replicated in every fragment.
 o  If the 'Block must be replicated in every fragment' bit is set to
    zero, the block should be replicated in only one fragment.
 o  The relative order of all blocks that are present in a fragment
    must be the same as in the bundle prior to fragmentation.

5.9. Application Data Unit Reassembly

 If the concatenation -- as informed by fragment offsets and payload
 lengths -- of the payloads of all previously received fragments with
 the same source endpoint ID and creation timestamp as this fragment,
 together with the payload of this fragment, forms a byte array whose
 length is equal to the total application data unit length in the
 fragment's primary block, then:
 o  This byte array -- the reassembled application data unit -- must
    replace the payload of this fragment.
 o  The "Reassembly pending" retention constraint must be removed from
    every other fragment whose payload is a subset of the reassembled
    application data unit.
 Note: reassembly of application data units from fragments occurs at
 destination endpoints as necessary; an application data unit may also
 be reassembled at some other endpoint on the route to the
 destination.

Scott & Burleigh Experimental [Page 33] RFC 5050 Bundle Protocol Specification November 2007

5.10. Custody Transfer

 The conditions under which a node may accept custody of a bundle
 whose destination is not a singleton endpoint are not defined in this
 specification.
 The decision as to whether or not to accept custody of a bundle whose
 destination is a singleton endpoint is an implementation matter that
 may involve both resource and policy considerations; however, if the
 bundle protocol agent has committed to accepting custody of the
 bundle (as described in Step 1 of Section 5.2), then custody must be
 accepted.
 If the bundle protocol agent elects to accept custody of the bundle,
 then it must follow the custody acceptance procedure defined in
 Section 5.10.1.

5.10.1. Custody Acceptance

 Procedures for acceptance of custody of a bundle whose destination is
 not a singleton endpoint are not defined in this specification.
 Procedures for acceptance of custody of a bundle whose destination is
 a singleton endpoint are defined as follows.
 The retention constraint "Custody accepted" must be added to the
 bundle.
 If the "request reporting of custody acceptance" flag in the bundle's
 status report request field is set to 1, a custody acceptance status
 report should be generated, destined for the report-to endpoint ID of
 the bundle.  However, if a bundle reception status report was
 generated for this bundle (Step 1 of Section 5.6), then this report
 should be generated by simply turning on the "Reporting node accepted
 custody of bundle" flag in that earlier report's status flags byte.
 The bundle protocol agent must generate a "Succeeded" custody signal
 for the bundle, destined for the bundle's current custodian.
 The bundle protocol agent must assert the new current custodian for
 the bundle.  It does so by changing the current custodian endpoint ID
 in the bundle's primary block to the endpoint ID of one of the
 singleton endpoints in which the node is registered.  This may entail
 appending that endpoint ID's null-terminated scheme name and SSP to
 the dictionary byte array in the bundle's primary block, and in some
 case it may also enable the (optional) removal of the current
 custodian endpoint ID's scheme name and/or SSP from the dictionary.

Scott & Burleigh Experimental [Page 34] RFC 5050 Bundle Protocol Specification November 2007

 The bundle protocol agent may set a custody transfer countdown timer
 for this bundle; upon expiration of this timer prior to expiration of
 the bundle itself and prior to custody transfer success for this
 bundle, the custody transfer failure procedure detailed in
 Section 5.12 must be followed.  The manner in which the countdown
 interval for such a timer is determined is an implementation matter.
 The bundle should be retained in persistent storage if possible.

5.10.2. Custody Release

 Procedures for release of custody of a bundle whose destination is
 not a singleton endpoint are not defined in this specification.
 When custody of a bundle is released, where the destination of the
 bundle is a singleton endpoint, the "Custody accepted" retention
 constraint must be removed from the bundle and any custody transfer
 timer that has been established for this bundle must be destroyed.

5.11. Custody Transfer Success

 Procedures for determining custody transfer success for a bundle
 whose destination is not a singleton endpoint are not defined in this
 specification.
 Upon receipt of a "Succeeded" custody signal at a node that is a
 custodial node of the bundle identified in the custody signal, where
 the destination of the bundle is a singleton endpoint, custody of the
 bundle must be released as described in Section 5.10.2.

5.12. Custody Transfer Failure

 Procedures for determining custody transfer failure for a bundle
 whose destination is not a singleton endpoint are not defined in this
 specification.  Custody transfer for a bundle whose destination is a
 singleton endpoint is determined to have failed at a custodial node
 for that bundle when either (a) that node's custody transfer timer
 for that bundle (if any) expires or (b) a "Failed" custody signal for
 that bundle is received at that node.
 Upon determination of custody transfer failure, the action taken by
 the bundle protocol agent is implementation-specific and may depend
 on the nature of the failure.  For example, if custody transfer
 failure was inferred from expiration of a custody transfer timer or
 was asserted by a "Failed" custody signal with the "Depleted storage"
 reason code, the bundle protocol agent might choose to re-forward the
 bundle, possibly on a different route (Section 5.4).  Receipt of a
 "Failed" custody signal with the "Redundant reception" reason code,

Scott & Burleigh Experimental [Page 35] RFC 5050 Bundle Protocol Specification November 2007

 on the other hand, might cause the bundle protocol agent to release
 custody of the bundle and to revise its algorithm for computing
 countdown intervals for custody transfer timers.

5.13. Bundle Deletion

 The steps in deleting a bundle are:
 Step 1:   If the retention constraint "Custody accepted" currently
    prevents this bundle from being discarded, and the destination of
    the bundle is a singleton endpoint, then:
  • Custody of the node is released as described in Section 5.10.2.
  • A bundle deletion status report citing the reason for deletion

must be generated, destined for the bundle's report-to endpoint

       ID.
    Otherwise, if the "request reporting of bundle deletion" flag in
    the bundle's status report request field is set to 1, then a
    bundle deletion status report citing the reason for deletion
    should be generated, destined for the bundle's report-to endpoint
    ID.
 Step 2:   All of the bundle's retention constraints must be removed.

5.14. Discarding a Bundle

 As soon as a bundle has no remaining retention constraints it may be
 discarded.

5.15. Canceling a Transmission

 When requested to cancel a specified transmission, where the bundle
 created upon initiation of the indicated transmission has not yet
 been discarded, the bundle protocol agent must delete that bundle for
 the reason "transmission cancelled".  For this purpose, the procedure
 defined in Section 5.13 must be followed.

5.16. Polling

 When requested to poll a specified registration that is in the
 Passive state, the bundle protocol agent must immediately deliver the
 least recently received bundle that is deliverable subject to the
 indicated registration, if any.

Scott & Burleigh Experimental [Page 36] RFC 5050 Bundle Protocol Specification November 2007

6. Administrative Record Processing

6.1. Administrative Records

 Administrative records are standard application data units that are
 used in providing some of the features of the Bundle Protocol.  Two
 types of administrative records have been defined to date: bundle
 status reports and custody signals.
 Every administrative record consists of a four-bit record type code
 followed by four bits of administrative record flags, followed by
 record content in type-specific format.  Record type codes are
 defined as follows:
         +---------+--------------------------------------------+
         |  Value  |                  Meaning                   |
         +=========+============================================+
         |  0001   |  Bundle status report.                     |
         +---------+--------------------------------------------+
         |  0010   |  Custody signal.                           |
         +---------+--------------------------------------------+
         | (other) |  Reserved for future use.                  |
         +---------+--------------------------------------------+
              Figure 8: Administrative Record Type Codes
         +---------+--------------------------------------------+
         |  Value  |                  Meaning                   |
         +=========+============================================+
         |  0001   |  Record is for a fragment; fragment        |
         |         |  offset and length fields are present.     |
         +---------+--------------------------------------------+
         | (other) |  Reserved for future use.                  |
         +---------+--------------------------------------------+
                 Figure 9: Administrative Record Flags
 All time values in administrative records are UTC times expressed in
 "DTN time" representation.  A DTN time consists of an SDNV indicating
 the number of seconds since the start of the year 2000, followed by
 an SDNV indicating the number of nanoseconds since the start of the
 indicated second.
 The contents of the various types of administrative records are
 described below.

Scott & Burleigh Experimental [Page 37] RFC 5050 Bundle Protocol Specification November 2007

6.1.1. Bundle Status Reports

 The transmission of 'bundle status reports' under specified
 conditions is an option that can be invoked when transmission of a
 bundle is requested.  These reports are intended to provide
 information about how bundles are progressing through the system,
 including notices of receipt, custody transfer, forwarding, final
 delivery, and deletion.  They are transmitted to the Report-to
 endpoints of bundles.
 +----------------+----------------+----------------+----------------+
 |  Status Flags  |  Reason code   |      Fragment offset (*) (if
 +----------------+----------------+----------------+----------------+
     present)     |      Fragment length (*) (if present)            |
 +----------------+----------------+----------------+----------------+
 |       Time of receipt of bundle X (a DTN time, if present)        |
 +----------------+----------------+----------------+----------------+
 |  Time of custody acceptance of bundle X (a DTN time, if present)  |
 +----------------+----------------+----------------+----------------+
 |     Time of forwarding of bundle X (a DTN time, if present)       |
 +----------------+----------------+----------------+----------------+
 |      Time of delivery of bundle X (a DTN time, if present)        |
 +----------------+----------------+----------------+----------------+
 |      Time of deletion of bundle X (a DTN time, if present)        |
 +----------------+----------------+----------------+----------------+
 |          Copy of bundle X's Creation Timestamp time (*)           |
 +----------------+----------------+----------------+----------------+
 |     Copy of bundle X's Creation Timestamp sequence number (*)     |
 +----------------+----------------+----------------+----------------+
 |      Length of X's source endpoint ID (*)        |   Source
 +----------------+---------------------------------+                +
                      endpoint ID of bundle X (variable)             |
 +----------------+----------------+----------------+----------------+
                Figure 10: Bundle Status Report Format
 (*) Notes:
 The Fragment Offset field, if present, is an SDNV and is therefore
 variable length.  A three-octet SDNV is shown here for convenience in
 representation.
 The Fragment Length field, if present, is an SDNV and is therefore
 variable length.  A three-octet SDNV is shown here for convenience in
 representation.

Scott & Burleigh Experimental [Page 38] RFC 5050 Bundle Protocol Specification November 2007

 The Creation Timestamp fields replicate the Creation Timestamp fields
 in the primary block of the subject bundle.  As such they are SDNVs
 (see Section 4.5.1 above) and are therefore variable length.  Four-
 octet SDNVs are shown here for convenience in representation.
 The source endpoint ID length field is an SDNV and is therefore
 variable length.  A three-octet SDNV is shown here for convenience in
 representation.
 The fields in a bundle status report are:
 Status Flags:   A 1-byte field containing the following flags:
         +----------+--------------------------------------------+
         |  Value   |                  Meaning                   |
         +==========+============================================+
         | 00000001 |  Reporting node received bundle.           |
         +----------+--------------------------------------------+
         | 00000010 |  Reporting node accepted custody of bundle.|
         +----------+--------------------------------------------+
         | 00000100 |  Reporting node forwarded the bundle.      |
         +----------+--------------------------------------------+
         | 00001000 |  Reporting node delivered the bundle.      |
         +----------+--------------------------------------------+
         | 00010000 |  Reporting node deleted the bundle.        |
         +----------+--------------------------------------------+
         | 00100000 |  Unused.                                   |
         +----------+--------------------------------------------+
         | 01000000 |  Unused.                                   |
         +----------+--------------------------------------------+
         | 10000000 |  Unused.                                   |
         +----------+--------------------------------------------+
            Figure 11: Status Flags for Bundle Status Reports
 Reason Code:   A 1-byte field explaining the value of the flags in
    the status flags byte.  The list of status report reason codes
    provided here is neither exhaustive nor exclusive; supplementary
    DTN protocol specifications (including, but not restricted to, the
    Bundle Security Protocol [BSP]) may define additional reason
    codes.  Status report reason codes are defined as follows:

Scott & Burleigh Experimental [Page 39] RFC 5050 Bundle Protocol Specification November 2007

         +---------+--------------------------------------------+
         |  Value  |                  Meaning                   |
         +=========+============================================+
         |  0x00   |  No additional information.                |
         +---------+--------------------------------------------+
         |  0x01   |  Lifetime expired.                         |
         +---------+--------------------------------------------+
         |  0x02   |  Forwarded over unidirectional link.       |
         +---------+--------------------------------------------+
         |  0x03   |  Transmission canceled.                    |
         +---------+--------------------------------------------+
         |  0x04   |  Depleted storage.                         |
         +---------+--------------------------------------------+
         |  0x05   |  Destination endpoint ID unintelligible.   |
         +---------+--------------------------------------------+
         |  0x06   |  No known route to destination from here.  |
         +---------+--------------------------------------------+
         |  0x07   |  No timely contact with next node on route.|
         +---------+--------------------------------------------+
         |  0x08   |  Block unintelligible.                     |
         +---------+--------------------------------------------+
         | (other) |  Reserved for future use.                  |
         +---------+--------------------------------------------+
                  Figure 12: Status Report Reason Codes
 Fragment Offset:   If the bundle fragment bit is set in the status
    flags, then the offset (within the original application data unit)
    of the payload of the bundle that caused the status report to be
    generated is included here.
 Fragment length:   If the bundle fragment bit is set in the status
    flags, then the length of the payload of the subject bundle is
    included here.
 Time of Receipt (if present):   If the bundle-received bit is set in
    the status flags, then a DTN time indicating the time at which the
    bundle was received at the reporting node is included here.
 Time of Custody Acceptance (if present):   If the custody-accepted
    bit is set in the status flags, then a DTN time indicating the
    time at which custody was accepted at the reporting node is
    included here.
 Time of Forward (if present):   If the bundle-forwarded bit is set in
    the status flags, then a DTN time indicating the time at which the
    bundle was first forwarded at the reporting node is included here.

Scott & Burleigh Experimental [Page 40] RFC 5050 Bundle Protocol Specification November 2007

 Time of Delivery (if present):   If the bundle-delivered bit is set
    in the status flags, then a DTN time indicating the time at which
    the bundle was delivered at the reporting node is included here.
 Time of Deletion (if present):   If the bundle-deleted bit is set in
    the status flags, then a DTN time indicating the time at which the
    bundle was deleted at the reporting node is included here.
 Creation Timestamp of Subject Bundle:  A copy of the creation
    timestamp of the bundle that caused the status report to be
    generated.
 Length of Source Endpoint ID:   The length in bytes of the source
    endpoint ID of the bundle that caused the status report to be
    generated.
 Source Endpoint ID text:   The text of the source endpoint ID of the
    bundle that caused the status report to be generated.

6.1.2. Custody Signals

 Custody signals are administrative records that effect custody
 transfer operations.  They are transmitted to the endpoints that are
 the current custodians of bundles.
 Custody signals have the following format.
 Custody signal regarding bundle 'X':
 +----------------+----------------+----------------+----------------+
 |     Status     |      Fragment offset (*) (if present)            |
 +----------------+----------------+----------------+----------------+
 |                   Fragment length (*) (if present)                |
 +----------------+----------------+----------------+----------------+
 |                   Time of signal (a DTN time)                     |
 +----------------+----------------+----------------+----------------+
 |          Copy of bundle X's Creation Timestamp time (*)           |
 +----------------+----------------+----------------+----------------+
 |     Copy of bundle X's Creation Timestamp sequence number (*)     |
 +----------------+----------------+----------------+----------------+
 |      Length of X's source endpoint ID (*)        |   Source
 +----------------+---------------------------------+                +
                      endpoint ID of bundle X (variable)             |
 +----------------+----------------+----------------+----------------+
                   Figure 13: Custody Signal Format

Scott & Burleigh Experimental [Page 41] RFC 5050 Bundle Protocol Specification November 2007

 (*) Notes:
 The Fragment Offset field, if present, is an SDNV and is therefore
 variable length.  A three-octet SDNV is shown here for convenience in
 representation.
 The Fragment Length field, if present, is an SDNV and is therefore
 variable length.  A four-octet SDNV is shown here for convenience in
 representation.
 The Creation Timestamp fields replicate the Creation Timestamp fields
 in the primary block of the subject bundle.  As such they are SDNVs
 (see Section 4.5.1 above) and are therefore variable length.  Four-
 octet SDNVs are shown here for convenience in representation.
 The source endpoint ID length field is an SDNV and is therefore
 variable length.  A three-octet SDNV is shown here for convenience in
 representation.
 The fields in a custody signal are:
 Status:   A 1-byte field containing a 1-bit "custody transfer
    succeeded" flag followed by a 7-bit reason code explaining the
    value of that flag.  Custody signal reason codes are defined as
    follows:

Scott & Burleigh Experimental [Page 42] RFC 5050 Bundle Protocol Specification November 2007

         +---------+--------------------------------------------+
         |  Value  |                  Meaning                   |
         +=========+============================================+
         |  0x00   |  No additional information.                |
         +---------+--------------------------------------------+
         |  0x01   |  Reserved for future use.                  |
         +---------+--------------------------------------------+
         |  0x02   |  Reserved for future use.                  |
         +---------+--------------------------------------------+
         |  0x03   |  Redundant reception (reception by a node  |
         |         |  that is a custodial node for this bundle).|
         +---------+--------------------------------------------+
         |  0x04   |  Depleted storage.                         |
         +---------+--------------------------------------------+
         |  0x05   |  Destination endpoint ID unintelligible.   |
         +---------+--------------------------------------------+
         |  0x06   |  No known route to destination from here.  |
         +---------+--------------------------------------------+
         |  0x07   |  No timely contact with next node on route.|
         +---------+--------------------------------------------+
         |  0x08   |  Block unintelligible.                     |
         +---------+--------------------------------------------+
         | (other) |  Reserved for future use.                  |
         +---------+--------------------------------------------+
                  Figure 14: Custody Signal Reason Codes
 Fragment offset:   If the bundle fragment bit is set in the status
    flags, then the offset (within the original application data unit)
    of the payload of the bundle that caused the status report to be
    generated is included here.
 Fragment length:   If the bundle fragment bit is set in the status
    flags, then the length of the payload of the subject bundle is
    included here.
 Time of Signal:   A DTN time indicating the time at which the signal
    was generated.
 Creation Timestamp of Subject Bundle:   A copy of the creation
    timestamp of the bundle to which the signal applies.
 Length of Source Endpoint ID:   The length in bytes of the source
    endpoint ID of the bundle to which the signal applied.

Scott & Burleigh Experimental [Page 43] RFC 5050 Bundle Protocol Specification November 2007

 Source Endpoint ID text:   The text of the source endpoint ID of the
    bundle to which the signal applies.

6.2. Generation of Administrative Records

 Whenever the application agent's administrative element is directed
 by the bundle protocol agent to generate an administrative record
 with reference to some bundle, the following procedure must be
 followed:
 Step 1:   The administrative record must be constructed.  If the
    referenced bundle is a fragment, the administrative record must
    have the Fragment flag set and must contain the fragment offset
    and fragment length fields.  The value of the fragment offset
    field must be the value of the referenced bundle's fragment
    offset, and the value of the fragment length field must be the
    length of the referenced bundle's payload.
 Step 2:   A request for transmission of a bundle whose payload is
    this administrative record must be presented to the bundle
    protocol agent.

6.3. Reception of Custody Signals

 For each received custody signal that has the "custody transfer
 succeeded" flag set to 1, the administrative element of the
 application agent must direct the bundle protocol agent to follow the
 custody transfer success procedure in Section 5.11.
 For each received custody signal that has the "custody transfer
 succeeded" flag set to 0, the administrative element of the
 application agent must direct the bundle protocol agent to follow the
 custody transfer failure procedure in Section 5.12.

7. Services Required of the Convergence Layer

7.1. The Convergence Layer

 The successful operation of the end-to-end bundle protocol depends on
 the operation of underlying protocols at what is termed the
 "convergence layer"; these protocols accomplish communication between
 nodes.  A wide variety of protocols may serve this purpose, so long
 as each convergence layer protocol adapter provides a defined minimal
 set of services to the bundle protocol agent.  This convergence layer
 service specification enumerates those services.

Scott & Burleigh Experimental [Page 44] RFC 5050 Bundle Protocol Specification November 2007

7.2. Summary of Convergence Layer Services

 Each convergence layer protocol adapter is expected to provide the
 following services to the bundle protocol agent:
 o  sending a bundle to all bundle nodes in the minimum reception
    group of the endpoint identified by a specified endpoint ID that
    are reachable via the convergence layer protocol; and
 o  delivering to the bundle protocol agent a bundle that was sent by
    a remote bundle node via the convergence layer protocol.
 The convergence layer service interface specified here is neither
 exhaustive nor exclusive.  That is, supplementary DTN protocol
 specifications (including, but not restricted to, the Bundle Security
 Protocol [BSP]) may expect convergence layer adapters that serve BP
 implementations conforming to those protocols to provide additional
 services.

8. Security Considerations

 The bundle protocol has taken security into concern from the outset
 of its design.  It was always assumed that security services would be
 needed in the use of the bundle protocol.  As a result, the bundle
 protocol security architecture and the available security services
 are specified in an accompanying document, the Bundle Security
 Protocol specification [BSP]; an informative overview of this
 architecture is provided in [SECO].
 The bundle protocol has been designed with the notion that it will be
 run over networks with scarce resources.  For example, the networks
 might have limited bandwidth, limited connectivity, constrained
 storage in relay nodes, etc.  Therefore, the bundle protocol must
 ensure that only those entities authorized to send bundles over such
 constrained environments are actually allowed to do so.  All
 unauthorized entities should be prevented from consuming valuable
 resources.
 Likewise, because of the potentially long latencies and delays
 involved in the networks that make use of the bundle protocol, data
 sources should be concerned with the integrity of the data received
 at the intended destination(s) and may also be concerned with
 ensuring confidentiality of the data as it traverses the network.
 Without integrity, the bundle payload data might be corrupted while
 in transit without the destination able to detect it.  Similarly, the
 data source can be concerned with ensuring that the data can only be
 used by those authorized, hence the need for confidentiality.

Scott & Burleigh Experimental [Page 45] RFC 5050 Bundle Protocol Specification November 2007

 Internal to the bundle-aware overlay network, the bundle nodes should
 be concerned with the authenticity of other bundle nodes as well as
 the preservation of bundle payload data integrity as it is forwarded
 between bundle nodes.
 As a result, bundle security is concerned with the authenticity,
 integrity, and confidentiality of bundles conveyed among bundle
 nodes.  This is accomplished via the use of three independent
 security-specific bundle blocks, which may be used together to
 provide multiple bundle security services or independently of one
 another, depending on perceived security threats, mandated security
 requirements, and security policies that must be enforced.
 The Bundle Authentication Block (BAB) ensures the authenticity and
 integrity of bundles on a hop-by-hop basis between bundle nodes.  The
 BAB allows each bundle node to verify a bundle's authenticity before
 processing or forwarding the bundle.  In this way, entities that are
 not authorized to send bundles will have unauthorized transmissions
 blocked by security-aware bundle nodes.
 Additionally, to provide "security-source" to "security-destination"
 bundle authenticity and integrity, the Payload Security Block (PSB)
 is used.  A "security-source" may not actually be the origination
 point of the bundle but instead may be the first point along the path
 that is security-aware and is able to apply security services.  For
 example, an enclave of networked systems may generate bundles but
 only their gateway may be required and/or able to apply security
 services.  The PSB allows any security-enabled entity along the
 delivery path, in addition to the "security-destination" (the
 recipient counterpart to the "security-source"), to ensure the
 bundle's authenticity.
 Finally, to provide payload confidentiality, the use of the
 Confidentiality Block (CB) is available.  The bundle payload may be
 encrypted to provide "security-source" to "security-destination"
 payload confidentiality/privacy.  The CB indicates the cryptographic
 algorithm and key IDs that were used to encrypt the payload.
 Note that removal of strings from the dictionary at a given point in
 a bundle's end-to-end path, and attendant adjustment of endpoint ID
 references in the blocks of that bundle, may make it necessary to re-
 compute values in one or more of the bundle's security blocks.
 Bundle security must not be invalidated by forwarding nodes even
 though they themselves might not use the Bundle Security Protocol.
 In particular, the sequencing of the blocks in a forwarded bundle
 must not be changed as it transits a node; received blocks must be
 transmitted in the same relative order as that in which they were

Scott & Burleigh Experimental [Page 46] RFC 5050 Bundle Protocol Specification November 2007

 received.  While blocks may be added to bundles as they transit
 intermediate nodes, removal of blocks that do not have their 'Discard
 block if it can't be processed' flag in the block processing control
 flags set to 1 may cause security to fail.
 Inclusion of the Bundle Security Protocol in any Bundle Protocol
 implementation is RECOMMENDED.  Use of the Bundle Security Protocol
 in Bundle Protocol operations is OPTIONAL.

9. IANA Considerations

 The "dtn:" URI scheme has been provisionally registered by IANA.  See
 http://www.iana.org/assignments/uri-schemes.html for the latest
 details.

10. References

10.1. Normative References

 [RFC2119]  Bradner, S., "Key words for use in RFCs to Indicate
            Requirement Levels", BCP 14, RFC 2119, March 1997.
 [URI]      Berners-Lee, T., Fielding, R., and L. Masinter, "Uniform
            Resource Identifier (URI): Generic Syntax", RFC 3986,
            STD 66, January 2005.
 [URIREG]   Hansen, T., Hardie, T., and L. Masinter, "Guidelines and
            Registration Procedures for New URI Schemes", RFC 4395,
            BCP 115, February 2006.

10.2. Informative References

 [ARCH]     V. Cerf et. al., "Delay-Tolerant Network Architecture",
            RFC 4838, April 2007.
 [ASN1]     "Abstract Syntax Notation One (ASN.1), "ASN.1 Encoding
            Rules: Specification of Basic Encoding Rules (BER),
            Canonical Encoding Rules (CER) and Distinguished Encoding
            Rules (DER)," ITU-T Rec. X.690 (2002) | ISO/IEC 8825-
            1:2002", 2003.
 [BSP]      Symington, S., "Bundle Security Protocol Specification",
            Work Progress, October 2007.
 [RFC3987]  Duerst, M. and M. Suignard, "Internationalized Resource
            Identifiers (IRIs)", RFC 3987, January 2005.

Scott & Burleigh Experimental [Page 47] RFC 5050 Bundle Protocol Specification November 2007

 [SECO]     Farrell, S., Symington, S., Weiss, H., and P. Lovell,
            "Delay-Tolerant Networking Security Overview",
            Work Progress, July 2007.
 [SIGC]     Fall, K., "A Delay-Tolerant Network Architecture for
            Challenged Internets", SIGCOMM 2003 .
 [TUT]      Warthman, F., "Delay-Tolerant Networks (DTNs): A
            Tutorial", <http://www.dtnrg.org>.
 [UTC]      Arias, E. and B. Guinot, ""Coordinated universal time UTC:
            historical background and perspectives" in Journees
            systemes de reference spatio-temporels", 2004.

Scott & Burleigh Experimental [Page 48] RFC 5050 Bundle Protocol Specification November 2007

Appendix A. Contributors

 This was an effort of the Delay Tolerant Networking Research Group.
 The following DTNRG participants contributed significant technical
 material and/or inputs: Dr. Vinton Cerf of Google, Scott Burleigh,
 Adrian Hooke, and Leigh Torgerson of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory,
 Michael Demmer of the University of California at Berkeley, Robert
 Durst, Keith Scott, and Susan Symington of The MITRE Corporation,
 Kevin Fall of Intel Research, Stephen Farrell of Trinity College
 Dublin, Peter Lovell of SPARTA, Inc., Manikantan Ramadas of Ohio
 University (most of Section 4.1), and Howard Weiss of SPARTA, Inc.
 (text of Section 8).

Appendix B. Comments

 Please refer comments to dtn-interest@mailman.dtnrg.org.  The Delay
 Tolerant Networking Research Group (DTNRG) Web site is located at
 http://www.dtnrg.org.

Authors' Addresses

 Keith L. Scott
 The MITRE Corporation
 7515 Colshire Drive
 McLean, VA  21102
 US
 Phone: +1 703 983 6547
 Fax:   +1 703 983 7142
 EMail: kscott@mitre.org
 Scott Burleigh
 NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory
 4800 Oak Grove Dr.
 Pasadena, CA  91109-8099
 US
 Phone: +1 818 393 3353
 Fax:   +1 818 354 1075
 EMail: Scott.Burleigh@jpl.nasa.gov

Scott & Burleigh Experimental [Page 49] RFC 5050 Bundle Protocol Specification November 2007

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