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+Network Working Group                                            V. Cerf
+Request for Comments: 1217                                          CSCR
+                                                            1 April 1991
+
+
+      Memo from the Consortium for Slow Commotion Research (CSCR)
+
+Status of this Memo
+
+   This RFC is in response to RFC 1216, "Gigabit Network Economics and
+   Paradigm Shifts".  Distribution of this memo is unlimited.
+
+
+To: Poorer Richard and Professor Kynikos
+
+Subject: ULSNET BAA
+
+From: Vint Cerf/CSCR
+
+Date: 4/1/91
+
+   The Consortium for Slow Commotion Research (CSCR) [1] is pleased to
+   respond to your research program announcement (RFC 1216) on Ultra
+   Low-Speed Networking (ULSNET).  CSCR proposes to carry out a major
+   research and development program on low-speed, low-efficiency
+   networks over a period of several eons.  Several designs are
+   suggested below for your consideration.
+
+1. Introduction
+
+   Military requirements place a high premium on ultra-robust systems
+   capable of supporting communication in extremely hostile
+   environments.  A major contributing factor in the survivability of
+   systems is a high degree of redundancy.  CSCR believes that the
+   system designs offered below exhibit extraordinary redundancy
+   features which should be of great interest to DARPA and the
+   Department of Defense.
+
+2. Jam-Resistant Land Mobile Communications
+
+   This system uses a highly redundant optical communication technique
+   to achieve ultra-low, ultra-robust transmission.  The basic unit is
+   the M1A1 tank.  Each tank is labelled with the number 0 or 1 painted
+   four feet high on the tank turret in yellow, day-glo luminescent
+   paint.  Several detection methods are under consideration:
+
+     (a)  A tree or sand-dune mounted forward observer (FO) radios
+          to a reach echelon main frame computer the binary values
+
+
+
+Cerf                                                            [Page 1]
+
+RFC 1217                       ULSNET BAA                     April 1991
+
+
+          of tanks moving in a serial column.  The mainframe decodes
+          the binary values and voice-synthesizes the alphameric
+          ASCII-encoded messages which is then radioed back to the
+          FO.  The FO then dispatches a runner to his unit HQ with
+          the message.  The system design includes two redundant,
+          emergency back-up forward observers in different trees
+          with a third in reserve in a foxhole.
+
+     (b)  Wide-area communication by means of overhead
+          reconnaissance satellites which detect the binary signals
+          from the M1A1 mobile system and download this
+          information for processing in special U.S. facilities in the
+          Washington, D.C. area.  A Convection Machine [2] system
+          will be used to perform a codebook table look-up to decode
+          the binary message.  The decoded message will be relayed
+          by morse-code over a packet meteor burst communications
+          channel to the appropriate Division headquarters.
+
+     (c)  An important improvement in the sensitivity of this system
+          can be obtained by means of a coherent detection strategy.
+          Using long baseline interferometry, phase differences
+          among the advancing tank column elements will be used to
+          signal a secondary message to select among a set of
+          codebooks in the Convenction Machine.  The phase analysis
+          will be carried out using Landsat imagery enhanced by
+          suitable processing at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory.  The
+          Landsat images (of the moving tanks) will be correlated
+          with SPOT Image images to obtain the phase-encoded
+          information.  The resulting data will be faxed to
+          Washington, D.C., for use in the Convection Machine
+          decoding step.  The remainder of this process is as for (b)
+          above.
+
+     (d)  It is proposed to use SIMNET to simulate this system.
+
+3. Low Speed Undersea Communication
+
+   Using the 16" guns of the Battleship Missouri, a pulse-code modulated
+   message will be transmitted via the Pacific Ocean to the Ames
+   Research Center in California.  Using a combination of fixed and
+   towed acoustic hydrophone arrays, the PCM signal will be detected,
+   recorded, enhanced and analyzed both at fixed installations and
+   aboard undersea vessels which have been suitably equipped.  An
+   alternative acoustic source is to use M1A1 main battle tanks firing
+   150 mm H.E. ordnance.  It is proposed to conduct tests of this method
+   in the Persian Gulf during the summer of 1991.
+
+
+
+
+
+Cerf                                                            [Page 2]
+
+RFC 1217                       ULSNET BAA                     April 1991
+
+
+4. Jam-Resistant Underwater Communication
+
+   The ULS system proposed in (2) above has the weakness that it is
+   readily jammed by simple depth charge explosions or other sources of
+   acoustic noise (e.g., Analog Equipment Corporation DUCK-TALK voice
+   synthesizers linked with 3,000 AMP amplifiers).  An alternative is to
+   make use of the ultimate in jam resistance: neutrino transmission.
+   For all practical purposes, almost nothing (including several light-
+   years of lead) will stop a neutrino.  There is, however, a slight
+   cross-section which can be exploited provided that a cubic mile of
+   sea water is available for observing occasional neutrino-chlorine
+   interactions which produce a detectable photon burst.  Thus, we have
+   the basis for a highly effective, extremely low speed communication
+   system for communicating with submarines.
+
+   There are a few details to be worked out:
+
+     (a)  the only accelerator available to us to generate neutrino
+          bursts is located at Batavia National Laboratory (BNL).
+
+     (b)  the BNL facility can only send neutrino bursts in one
+          direction (through the center of the Earth) to a site near
+          Tierra del Fuego, Chile.  Consequently, all submarines must
+          be scheduled to pass near Tierra del Fuego on a regular
+          basis to coincide with the PCM neutrino signalling from
+          the BNL source.
+
+     (c)  the maximum rate of neutrino burst transmission is
+          approximately once every 20 seconds.  This high rate can be
+          reduced considerably if the pwer source for the accelerator
+          is limited to a rate sustainable by discharging a large
+          capacitor which is trickle charged by a 2 square foot solar
+          panel mounted to face north.
+
+5. Options for Further Reducing Effective Throughput
+
+     (a)  Anti-Huffman Coding.  The most frequent symbol is
+          assigned the longest code, with code lengths reducing with
+          symbol probability.
+
+     (b)  Minimum likelihood decoding.  The least likely
+          interpretation of the detected symbol is selected to
+          maximize the probability of decoding error.
+
+     (c)  Firefly cryptography.  A random signal (mason jar full of
+          fireflies) is used to encipher the transmitted signal by
+          optical combining.  At the receiving site, another jar of
+          fireflies is used to decipher the message.  Since the
+
+
+
+Cerf                                                            [Page 3]
+
+RFC 1217                       ULSNET BAA                     April 1991
+
+
+          correlation between the transmitting and receiving firefly
+          jars is essentially nil, the probability of successful
+          decipherment is quite low, yielding a very low effective
+          transmission rate.
+
+     (d)  Recursive Self-encapsulation.  Since it is self-evident that
+          layered communication is a GOOD THING, more layers
+          must be better.  It is proposed to recursively encapsulate
+          each of the 7 layers of OSI, yielding a 49 layer
+          communications model.  The redundancy and
+          retransmission and flow control achieved by this means
+          should produce an extremely low bandwidth system if,
+          indeed, any information can be transmitted at all.  It is
+          proposed that the top level application layer utilize ASN.1
+          encoded in a 32 bit per character set.
+
+     (e)  Scaling.  The initial M1A1 tank basis for the land mobile
+          communication system can be improved.  It is proposed to
+          reduce the effective data rate further by replacing the
+          tanks with shuttle launch vehicles.  The only slower method
+          of signalling might be the use of cars on any freeway in the
+          Los Angeles area.
+
+     (f)  Network Management.  It is proposed to adopt the Slow
+          Network Management Protocol (SNMP) as a standard for
+          ULSNET.  All standard Management Information Base
+          variables will be specified in Serbo-Croatian and all
+          computations carried-out in reverse-Polish.
+
+     (g)  Routing.  Two alternatives are proposed:
+
+               (1) Mashed Potato Routing
+               (2) Airline Baggage Routing [due to S. Cargo]
+
+          The former is a scheme whereby any incoming packets are
+          stored for long periods of time before forwarding.  If space
+          for storage becomes a problem, packets are compressed by
+          removing bits at random.  Packets are then returned to the
+          sender.  In the latter scheme, packets are mislabelled at the
+          initial switch and randomly labelled as they are moved
+          through the network.  A special check is made before
+          forwarding to avoid routing to the actual intended
+          destination.
+
+   CSCR looks forward to a protracted and fruitless discussion with you
+   on this subject as soon as we can figure out how to transmit the
+   proposal.
+
+
+
+
+Cerf                                                            [Page 4]
+
+RFC 1217                       ULSNET BAA                     April 1991
+
+
+NOTES
+
+   [1] The Consortium was formed 3/27/91 and includes David Clark,
+       John Wroclawski, and Karen Sollins/MIT, Debbie Deutsch/BBN,
+       Bob Braden/ISI, Vint Cerf/CNRI and several others whose names
+       have faded into an Alzheimerian oblivion...
+
+   [2] Convection Machine is a trademark of Thoughtless Machines, Inc.,
+       a joint-venture of Hot-Air Associates and Air Heads International
+       using vaporware from the Neural Network Corporation.
+
+Security Considerations
+
+   Security issues are not discussed in this memo.
+
+Author's Address
+
+   Vint Cerf
+   Corporation for National Research Initiatives
+   1895 Preston White Drive, Suite 100
+   Reston, VA 22091
+
+   Phone: (703) 620-8990
+
+   EMail: CERF@NRI.RESTON.VA.US
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+Cerf                                                            [Page 5]
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