VISVESHWARAYA TECHNOLOGY UNIVERSITY BELGAUM

A SEMINAR REPORT
ON
Interplanetary Communication Technologies,
Architectures and Applications
Submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirement for the degree of
BACHELOR IN ENGINEERING
In
ELECTRONICS AND COMMUNICATION DEPARTMENT
By
JAGATH S M
[1RN12EC052]

2017
R.N.S INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
Channasandra, Bangalore – 560098
DATE: 18th MARCH’ 2017
EVALUATED BY:

(Signature) (Signature)
Asst. Prof. Leena Chandrashekar Asst. Prof. Nithu
Interplanetary Communication Technologies, Architectures and Applications

RNS Institute of Technology

Channasandra, Uttarahalli, Kengeri main Road,

Bangalore-560 061

DEPARTMENT OF ELECTRONICS & COMMUNICATION ENGINEERING

CERTIFICATE

Certified that the Seminar on topic “Interplanetary Communication Technologies,

Architectures and Applications” has been successfully presented at RNS Institute of
Technology by JAGATH S M, bearing USN 1RN12EC052, in partial fulfilment of the
requirements for the VIII Semester degree of Bachelor of Engineering in Electronics &
Communication Engineering of Visvesvaraya Technological University, Belgaum during
academic year 2016-2017. It is certified that all corrections/suggestions indicated for Internal
Assessment have been incorporated in the report deposited in the departmental library. The
Seminar report has been approved as it satisfies the academic requirements in respect of Seminar
work for the said degree.

Mrs Leena Chandrashekar Dr. Vipula Singh Dr. MK

Venkatesha

Assistant Professor and Guide Professor and HOD Principal

Dept of ECE, RNSIT Page 2

 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

My sincere gratitude is extended to UG course of VTU for the inclusion of seminar in the
8th semester B.E.I am grateful to our institution RNS Institute of Technology with its very high
ideals and inspirations for providing us with the opportunity and Resources to carry out the
seminar successfully.

I am thankful to Dr. H N Shivshankar, Director, RNSIT and Dr. M K Venkatesha,

Principal, RNSIT who has provided us with all the facilities to complete the seminar. I express
heartfelt thanks to Dr. Vipula Singh, Professor, Head of department of ECE, RNSIT for her
support and guidance.

I am grateful to Mrs. Leena Chandrashekar, Asst. Professor, RNSIT, my seminar guide

for her valuable guidance and suggestion without which successful completion of my seminar
wouldn’t have been possible.

I am also grateful to Panel members who screened and approved my seminar so that I
could continue with it. I am grateful to all other lecturers who have directly or indirectly helped
me. I would like to extend my thanks to my parents and friends who have helped in some or
other way in the fulfillment of the seminar.

Jagath S M

(1RN12EC052)
 ABSTRACT

Space communications are challenged by long delays, high error probability, frequent
intermittent connectivity and link disruption. The challenges promote the progressive
improvements of space communications technologies and networking architectures. Nowadays,
the physical layer technologies are unable to meet the needs of more complex scientific
activities. The communication means is transforming into hop-to-hop to guarantee the reliability
and efficiency of a communications process over an interplanetary network. A universal
infrastructure for interplanetary networking and novel communication technologies are needed
urgently for scientific research and possible commercial applications in the near future. This
paper discusses the state-of-the-art of interplanetary communication technologies and network
architecture. A networked interplanetary architecture under Earth-Mars scenario is envisioned. A
brief overview of Delay/DisruptionTolerant Network (DTN) architecture are presented. Several
representative applications and experiments in space DTN are discussed in details relative to
terrestrial DTN applications. Finally, some open issues, such as network modeling, routing,
congestion control, security and free space optical communication, are presented for further
research
Interplanetary Communication Technologies, Architectures and Applications

CONTENTS
Sl.No. Chapter Page No.

I. INTRODUCTION 06

II. INTERPLANETARY COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGIES 07

A. Challenges
B. Space Communication Technologies
C. Space Communications Standards and Protocols
D. Space Networks based Multi-hops

III. NETWORKED INTERPLANETARY AECHITECTURE 11

A. Deep Space Network

B. Interplanetary Internet Networking
C. IPN Network Infrastructure

IV. DELAY/DISRUPTION TOLERANT NETWORK 15

A. Architecture
B. Terrestrial DTN applications
C. Space DTN applications and experiments
1) UK-Disaster Monitoring Constellation (UK-DMC)
2) Deep Impact Network Experiment (DINET)
3) International Space Station (ISS)
4) ISS Astronauts Manipulate Ground Robot

V. OPEN RESEARCH TOPICS 20

VI. CONCLUSION 22
REFERENCES

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Interplanetary Communication Technologies, Architectures and Applications

Chapter I
INTRODUCTION
Currently, space communication and networking research have entered a new engineering and
scientific era with the increasing demands. The general manner uses radio signal shots toward
spacecraft antennas whenever they come into view. However, the telecommunication software
lacks universality and differs from various missions, and moreover, individual flight project
operates its own dedicated space communication network. The most immediate problem is to
develop a space network that can be interconnected, standardized and evolved over the future
decades[1]. Such motivations drive the development of various communication technologies and
networking architectures for space communication, such as the Deep Space Network (DSN),
InterPlaNetary Internet (IPN), and Delay/Disruption Tolerant Network (DTN) and so on. This
paper provides a full view of communications and networking technologies in interplanetary
space. The remainder of this paper is organized as follows. Section II presents the challenges
faced by the IPN, interplanetary communication technologies, protocols and an example of
scheduled contact of space network based multi-hops. Section III describes DSN and IPN
network infrastructure, and one envisaged IPN networking architecture under EarthMars
scenario is given in this section. Section IV discusses the DTN architecture, the applications of
terrestrial and space DTN networks. A variety of open research field and directions are given in
Section V. Finally, conclusions are drawn.

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Chapter II

INTERPLANETARY COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGIES

The challenges faced by the space communications promote the

continuous developments of space communications technologies.
Although the physical layer technologies made great progress in this
area, more performance improvements have become almost impossible.
The novel space communications technologies, space networking
architecture and protocols are needed imminently to support future
developments of space communications.

A. CHALLENGES
The main challenges in interplanetary communications include: extremely long and variable
propagation delays; low and asymmetrical forward and reverse link capacities; high error
probability; intermittent link connectivity; absence of fixed communication infrastructure;
attenuation of the transmitted signals due to distances; power, mass and size of communications
hardware and costs, of both in terms of hardware and protocols’ complexity; backward
compatibility requirement due to high cost involved in deployment and launching procedures.
These problems strongly compromise the reliability and the efficiency of a communications
process over an IPN network.

B. SPACE COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGIES

Space communication over the radio signal has been used since 1950s. All
space missions up to now have used radio communication links as their primary
communication means. Missions are completed successfully by adding a point to
point link information transmission capacity to protect, including: improving
transmitting power, control of receiver noise temperature, using larger antennas,
higher carrier frequency, higher gain channel coding and modulation system design
etc. However, after many years of intensive research, point-to-point
communication theory and technologies have been approaching to Shannon limit.

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Interplanetary Communication Technologies, Architectures and Applications

In recent years, development in Laser communications have shown promising

results for Earth-Mars links[3]. Although Lasers exhibit very narrow dispersal of
beams compared to Radio beams, distant transmitters and receivers must be
aligned precisely. Lasers are expected be a viable and superior alternative to
interplanetary radio links, and the potential benefits will soon be exploited and
commercially implemented in the near future.

C. SPACE COMMUNICATIONS STANDARDS AND PROTOCOLS

Over the past 30 years the Consultative Committee for Space Data System
(CCSDS) has established a standards library which provide detailed technical
guidance to space agencies and various space missions. More than 500 space
missions have already complied with the CCSDS standards in which CCSDS File
Delivery Protocol (CFDP) is designed for reliable file transfer across
interplanetary distances[4]. In addition, CFDP will in effect serve as a prototype
for the future IPN as envisioned by the IPN study team: it encompasses a subset of
the anticipated functionality of the IPN, and it implements several key IPN design
concepts including store-and-forward operation with deferred transmission and
concurrent transactions. The IPN design goes beyond the capabilities of CFDP in
some key areas, notably network scalability and compatibility with anticipated
terrestrial DTN technology, but deployed IPN protocols will complement rather
than supersede CFDP. The application of emerging delay-tolerant networking
technology to Interplanetary Internet operations, and specifically to the use of
CFDP in complex mission configurations, will further enhance CFDP’s usefulness
and value to deep space exploration missions.

D. Space Networks based Multi-hop

In order to break through the bottleneck of point-to-point communication, and
support the future tasks of deep space exploration efficiently, a collaborative and
networked transmission based on multi-hops using existing assets and relays, is the
inevitable trend of the future deep space communication[5]. Large propagation
delay and intermittent links are the two important issues faced in deep space
communication. Consequently, there are two possible approaches to overcome
these two issues. The first is to develop communication network protocols that
easily manage intermittent links, long and variable delay, thus providing high
performance. The second is to design a multi-hop space network architecture that

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Interplanetary Communication Technologies, Architectures and Applications

tackles the link blackout. The preferred method of establishing interplanetary

communication would change, from Earth-Mars direct to Earth-Mars Relay
systems, in the near future. As everyone knows, the space network is commonly
scheduled by the visible time between the spacecrafts or assets on the celestial
bodies. A scheduled contact is referred to a particular duration established at a
particular time. An example is given below, the whole network contains 6 nodes
and the contacts between them.

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Interplanetary Communication Technologies, Architectures and Applications

Chapter III
NETWORKED INTERPLANETARY AECHITECTURES
Overview of interplanetary communication today is characterized as
follows:
1. Expensive.
2. Scheduled.
3. Oversubscribed.
4. Ground stations in “interesting” locations.

Besides, advances in space technologies, greater onboard computation

capabilities and improved networking features pave the way for
deployment of more complex space networks[6]. In addition, the DTN
architecture [7] opened the door to autonomous networking operations in
space. The consequent standardization has resulted in a series of Request
for Comments (RFCs) related to the DTN architecture[ 8 ]. More
recently, CCSDS has started standardization with DTN for future deep
space [9], and new specifications of Bundle Protocol (BP) [10] and
Licklider Transmission Protocol (LTP)[11] protocols tailored to space
missions are presented. Now, we discuss the Deep Space Network and
then the interplanetary networking solutions. Lastly, a networked
interplanetary architecture is given.

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Interplanetary Communication Technologies, Architectures and Applications

A. DEEP SPACE NETWORK

It is a world-wide network of large antennas and communication facilities that

supports interplanetary spacecraft missions. NASA (National Aeronautics and
Space Administration) DSN currently consists of three deepspace communications
facilities, located separately in California, Spain, and Australia, placed
approximately 120 degrees apart around the Earth. Each facility is situated in semi-
mountainous, bowl-shaped terrain to shield against radio frequency interference. All
antennas are steerable, high-gain, parabolic reflector antennas. Thus causes each of
the locations have 8-14 hour of viewing period for direct contact with the satellites
and they are controlled by the Network Operations Control Team (NOCT) at JPL’s
Deep Space Operations Center. Other similar networks include ESTRACK of the
European Space Agency (ESA), the Soviet Deep Space Network, the Indian Deep
Space Network, and the Chinese Deep Space Network.

With the growth of space missions, the disadvantages of current NASA DSN begin
to emerge. Firstly, the DSN site at Canberra, is the only one in the southern
hemisphere, thus limiting the coverage in these areas. Secondly, the older 70M &
HEF antennas are reaching the end of their lives, replacing major components
causes them to be out of service for months at a time. Thirdly, the major problem is
the need to support increasing number of missions. It is reported that, by 2020, the
DSN may be required to support twice the number of missions it was supporting in
2005. All of the above limitations and requirements have lead to a new arraybased
architecture[12], which offers an attractive approach to a reliable, cost-effective,
and flexible next-generation DSN. Thus increases the receiving sensitivity
drastically and lowers the system temperature significantly. In general,
combination with an advanced set of arrays, laser communications and orbital
relays, future missions are expected to receive more scientific data reliably and
flexibly.

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B. INTERPLANETARY INTERNET NERWORKING

For scientific research and possible commercial applications in the near future, a
universal infrastructure which are the ones of the so called IPN Internet are
needed[13][14]. Obviously, the IPN Internet is expected to extend the current space
communications capabilities to a point where the boundaries between the terrestrial
and space communications become transparent.

Typically, the IPN network includes IPN Backbone Network, IPN External
Networks, and PlaNetary(PN) Networks. The IPN Backbone Network provides a
high capacity and high availability link for deep space communications among
Earth, planets, moons, and relay stations (reside in the Lagrange points). The IPN
External Network consists of the nodes which have both long and short-haul
communication capabilities, such as spacecraft flying in deep space between
planets, space probes, and orbiting space stations. The PN Network is composed of
the PN Satellite Network and the PN Surface Network. For simplicity, we roughly
divide IPN network into Surface Network and Relay Network. The Surface
Network provides the communication links between surface elements, such as
rovers, landers and sensors on the surface of planets, or the terrestrial facilities on
Earth. While Relay Network may have many kinds of satellites or orbiting space
stations, which provide the intermediate cache and relay services for Earth and other
planets, and also provides network management functions on planet's surface. For
the Mars Relay Network, NASA and ESA have launched Odyssey which was the
first Mars relay satellite conforming to the CCSDS Proximity-1 Space Link
Protocol.

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C. IPN NETWORK INFRASTRUCTURE

As mentioned before, the IPN Internet under the scenario of Earth-Mars could take
advantage of data relay satellites located in Lagrange points of the Sun-Earth
system and/or Earth-Moon system. In such a context, an envisaged infrastructure
for IPN networking is drawn in Fig. 2. The Surface Network may include three
small surface networks distributed in the Earth, Moon and Mars respectively. The
surface network of Mars is composed of two rovers (MR1,MR2), and the surface
network of Moon is also the same (LR1,LR2). The Earth surface nodes are the
ones of the well-known Deep Space Network (ES1, ES2 and ES3).

Figure 2: Envisaged IPN networking architecture

These surface nodes are typically the destination of the information sent from
remote planets and, simultaneously, the source of possible control messages
transmitted towards the IPN nodes (e.g., from Mission Control Centers). The Relay
Network may include a variety of relay satellites that provide relay and buffer
services. As shown in the figure, the three Martian orbiting satellites (MO1, MO2,
and MO3) not only communication with the Martian rovers (MR1,MR2) using
short-haul space link protocol, such as CCSDS proximity-1, but also perform
relaying operations over Mars to the Earth or other relays taking advantage of
long-haul communication protocols, such as Saratoga protocol, DeepSpace
Transport Protocol (DS-TP)[17] and LTP. Other nodes of Relay Network, such as
GEO1, GEO2, L2, LISA, LO1 and LO2, will also perform the relaying operations.

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Chapter IV
DELAY/DISRUPTION TOLERANT NETWORK

In this section, we shed the light on DTN architecture and its applications. The
DTN architecture is a new communications technology that enables standardized
communications similar to the Internet to function over long distances and through
time delays associated with onorbit or deep space spacecraft or robotic systems.

A. ARCHITECTURE

In 2002, Kevin Fall started to adapt some of the ideas of IPN to terrestrial
network and first coined the term Delay Tolerant Network (DTN), an
architecture for challenged internets is proposed [18]. The DTN architecture
aims to provide interoperable communications between a wide range of
networks which may have exceptionally poor and disparate performance
characteristics. This architecture represents a generalization of the IPN
architecture to challenged networks other than space. These challenged
networks are very heterogeneous and their characteristics are as follows:

 End-to-end path may not exist, creating intermittent connectivity

 Node mobility may be predictable (planetary dynamics, scheduled
vehicles, message ferries), unpredictable ( sparse sensor network, data
mules, vehicular), semi-predictable (animals vehicle, etc.)
 Large, unpredictable, variable delays for transmission (deep space)
 Asymmetric data rate x High bit error rate (wireless, underwater,
satellite)
 Different transport protocols making interactive communication
impossible/inefficient or unreliable
 Having very large round trip time (RTT) (deep space, military or
remote area)

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DTN adopts a store-and-forward custody transmission mechanism to deal

with challenged communication environments. It is based on an abstraction
of message switching and message aggregates known as “bundles”. It inserts
a new overlay network protocol between the applications and the locally
optimized stacks. The overlay protocol provides a general-purpose
application-level gateway infrastructure that can be used by any number of
applications. The overlay network is formed by Bundle Protocol, which is an
optional end-to-end acknowledgment protocol that based on the mechanisms
of hop-by-hop custody transfer and store-carry-forward [19]. BP enables
message transmission and reception by invoking the services of an
underlying Convergence Layer Protocol (CLP) stack. Currently, the most
broadly CLPs that supported under BP include TCP-based CLP, User
Datagram Protocol (UDP)based CLP, Saratoga CLP [20], and LTP [21]. A
simple example of DTN networking architecture and protocol stack under the
Earth to Mars scenario.

realized that networking in such challenging environments could be of use in

(wireless) terrestrial applications, both for military and civilian applications.
Massive applications that need to survive and communicate in harsh
environments have implemented the DTN technology, such as, military
operations, tracking of wildlife, underwater communication, “hotspot”
connectivity in underdeveloped regions, vehicular network, social
networking and so on. All of these environments are common in one thing
that bears a large amount of delay in transmission and frequent disruption,
which encourage data storage at intermediate nodes in the network. Lack of
space forbids further discussions on terrestrial applications, we discuss
several important space DTN applications in next subsection.

B. TERRESTRIAL DTN APPLICATIONS

DTN has been a highly active area of research since last decade. Even though
the architectural designs mainly focused on deep-space communications,
DTN was soon realized that networking in such challenging environments
could be of use in (wireless) terrestrial applications, both for military and
civilian applications. Massive applications that need to survive and
communicate in harsh environments have implemented the DTN technology,
such as, military operations, tracking of wildlife, underwater communication,

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“hotspot” connectivity in underdeveloped regions, vehicular network, social

networking and so on. All of these environments are common in one thing
that bears a large amount of delay in transmission and frequent disruption,
which encourage data storage at intermediate nodes in the network. Lack of
space forbids further discussions on terrestrial applications, we discuss
several important space DTN applications in next subsection.

C. SPACE DTN APPLICATIONS AND EXPERIMEN

1) UK-Disaster Monitoring Constellation (UK-DMC) The first reported
experiment of testing BP protocol for space DTN can be dated back on
June, 2008 [23]. In these tests, a bundle node sent images from a LEO
satellite belongs to the UK-DMC built by Surrey Satellite Technology
Ltd (SSTL). The main aim is to demonstrate the proactive fragmentation
capabilities of the BP protocol which would even allow a large image file
to be sent over the network during a single contact opportunity to a
ground sink. There are 7 UK-DMC imaging satellites located in the LEO
track which have 5 to 14 minutes of contact duration to a ground sink, and
the period of orbit is about 100 minutes normally. The image file was split
into bundles and transferred to the ground. The tests showed that it would
approximately require three passes for a single sink to obtain the complete
file. Furthermore, the test of transferring the image bundles to separate
ground stations was also carried out. And then the received bundles were
reassembled over terrestrial Internet at the separate sink using the BP
protocol of DTN architecture. Simultaneously, the experiment also
validated Saratoga protocol which focuses on high link utilization and
makes the most of limited connectivity times can be used as an effective
bundle CLP.

2) DEEP IMPACT NETWORK EXPERIMENT (DINET)

NASA performed its first test of space DTN indeed in October

and November of 2008, with the close cooperation of EPOXI
(formerly Deep Impact flyby) project [25]. The DINET project
was an experimental validation of Interplanetary Overlay
Network (ION) software for subsequent space missions, and as
well was JPL's implementation of the Delay-Tolerant
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Networking protocols, intended to increase the technical

readiness of DTN [26]. It mainly aimed to simulate a local relay
network of Mars to communicate with the ground mission-
operations centers. In this experiment, the EPOXI spacecraft, 14-
24 million km from Earth, functioned as a Mars data-relay
orbiter in an 11node network of time-varying topology over
scheduled episodic contacts, and the other ten, which are on the
ground at JPL, simulate Mars landers, orbiters and ground
missionoperations centers. Engineers began a month-long series
of DTN demonstrations in October. Data were transmitted using
NASA's DSN in demonstrations occurring twice a week. All
these were aimed at testing the ION software in the data
transmission in terms of the link utilization and reliability.

3) INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION (ISS)

NASA’s Huntsville Operations Support Center (HOSC) in

collaboration with University of Colorado has also been testing
DTN technology on the International Space Station (ISS). It
deployed the bundle protocol in the CommercialGrade
Bioprocessing Apparatus 5 (CGBA5) and carried on a series of
experiments. These tests helped to establish a long term, readily
accessible communications platform onboard the ISS with the
ground mission control center to test message
transmission[27][28]. Nowadays, the popular communication
means is still point-to-point communication between spacecrafts.
Furthermore, manned labor is also needed to schedule the
transmission time, contact duration, and the destination. These
successful tests have opened up a new road to progressively
evolving IPN supported with the new DTN feature and
technology without human to manipulate transmission activities,
thus saving a great deal of labor cost.

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4) ISS ASTRONAUTS MANIPULATE GROUND ROBOT

In 2012 October, NASA joint with ESA have tested a new

technique of DTN, ISS commander Sunita Williams used a
NASA-developed laptop onboard the station to control a LEGO
Mindstorm robot, located at ESA’s European Space Operations
Centre in Darmstadt, Germany. Using a ‘space internet’, she
could manipulate the robot in real time despite being in orbit at
an altitude of 370 km. The European-led experiment used DTN
BP protocol mainly aimed to simulate a scenario in which an
astronaut in a vehicle orbiting a planetary body controls a robotic
rover on the planet’s surface and also to verify the feasibility of
using a new communications infrastructure to send commands to
a surface robot from an orbiting spacecraft and receive images
and data back from the robot. Some days in the future, this
technology will be used by astronauts on a spacecraft in orbit
around Mars to operate robots on the surface, or from Earth
using orbiting satellites as relay stations. The success of the test
of the experimental DTN protocol would form the basis for
future interplanetary Internet communication.

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Chapter V
OPEN RESEARCH TOPICS

With the rapid development of space science and continuous

research of space exploration technology, the existing network
architecture of space communication system has been unable to
meet the needs of future space communication. According to the
needs of future space services and information transmission
capacity, by reasonably setting the location and number of relay
nodes, so as to construct an autonomous space communication
network topology structure, is a problem needed for further
research. As the IPN becomes more robust and needs to
exchange more scientific data in future, the terrestrial network
and the IPN network will need to seamlessly merge with one
another which might bring up the requirement for an overlay
network on top of the DTN architecture. Spacecrafts, Planets and
Earth stations all keep moving in and out fo sight, it is very
challenging to route data over the IPN nodes to the destination,
so the future work involve the development of a reliable IPN
built on top of the DTN architecture with efficient routing
protocols. Another topic of ongoing research, related to routing
in DTN network is congestion control. In a DTN, congestion can
occur either at a CLA, for example, if a TCP session suffers
congestion, or due to a shortage of persistent storge within a
bundle agent. For one thing, interplanetary DTN is usually
modeled through scheduled contacts that are known in advance
as well as latencies. Due to short contacts and large inter-
encounter intervals, some stored unexpired bundles may not
have enough residual lifetimes for a contact to occur. In deep
space, bundles may even expire while routing to their intended
destinations. Early discarding of those bundles may significantly
reduce buffer occupancy and appears as an interesting
congestion control mechanism. For another, the interplanetary
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Interplanetary Communication Technologies, Architectures and Applications

nodes usually have limited memories which cause them have

only a certain degree of freedom in handling the bundles. The
current research of determining when a node should accept or
refuse the custody transfer is customarily viewed as a resource
allocation and scheduling problem. Hence space congestion
control is a promising research topic and deserves a great deal of
attention in future research. Today the security of space data is
treated more and more seriously by the scientists and space
agencies, especially for precious scientific data. Traditional
spacebased point-to-point datalinks have been secured using
bulk encryption, which is a very simple way, but is extremely
inflexible. DTN architecture as specified in RFC 4838 adopts a
standard but optionally deployed security architecture that
utilizes hop-by-hop and end-to-end authentication and integrity
mechanisms. And RFC 5327[29] describes security extensions to
LTP, which is designed to provide retransmission-based
reliability over links characterized by extremely long message
RTTs and/or frequent interruptions in connectivity. As space
network resources are of extrme scarce, the authentication and
access control is important for protocol design. Secure data
transmission over space networks is still under continuous
investigation. Radio-based space communications, even with
great improvements to technologies in last half-century, are
challenged by modern mission needs, which call for significantly
higher data rates, or current levels of performance requiring a lot
less mass and power-critical resources on any spacecraft. Free
space optical communication is also gaining more and more
attention because of its special characteritics. More work is
needed urgently in this area as it promises very high data/power
efficiency which makes it a viable and superior alternative to
interplanetary radio links.

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Chapter VI
CONCLUSION

This paper has provided a complete picture of communications

technologies, networking architecture and protocols in
interplanetary space. We discussed DSN and a networked
interplanetary architecture under Earth-Mars.
The IPN Internet and DTN concepts and architectures are
described. The terrestrial and space DTN applications are
discussed separately with more focus on space DTN applications
and experiments. Several open issues are proposed for intensive
study.
In the near future, a collaborative and networked transfer based
on multi-hops is the inevitable development trend of the future
interplanetary communication. Once we have a set of robust
network protocols in interplanetary environments, then the IPN
moves one step forwards its deployment and application. More
space DTN experiments are underway and are soon to be tested
in the coming years. We can envision a universal infrastructure
for interplanetary network and practical communication
technologies would emerge, providing high speed and secure
access from Earth to our neighboring planets in solar system in
the next few decades.

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