Disruption tolerant networking for Marine Corps CONDOR

We present an overview of our work in applying Disruption Tolerant Networking technology to the US Marine Corps CONDOR (C2 On-the-move Network Digital Over-the-horizon Relay) project, a near-term framework for extending and bridging tactical data networks that are partitioned, for instance, by distance or terrain features. A portion of the CONDOR system involves deploying mobile platforms that can use satellite. links when terrestrial radio networks are out of range, in order to maintain situational awareness and connectivity to tactical data networks and applications. Disruption Tolerant Networking technology leverages the work of the Internet Research Task Force (IRTF) Delay Tolerant Networking Research Group (DTNRG). We discuss our plan to enhance CONDOR with products of the DTNRG, present a proof-of-concept demonstration that incorporates payload hardware, and discuss application design considerations for operation in a networking environment prone to disruption.