ATDnet Experiment Plan

December 1994

This experiment plan brings together all the experimental and research work being planned for the Advanced Technology Demonstration Network (ATDnet). The experiments/research are grouped into the categories of ATM/SONET, Applications, Connectivity to Other Networks, Existing/Legacy Systems, and Miscellaneous. A future companion document will flesh out the descriptions of the experiments/research. To get more information on what an Agency is doing in a particular experiment, simply click on the highlighted Agency name.

I. ATM/SONET Experiments

• Interoperability

  It is important to stress interoperability early in the development of SONET and ATM equipments. A truly global network will be heterogeneous, so the ability to fully utilize the technologies depends on the amount of interoperability between the various manufacturers. This set of experiments will demonstrate the interoperability of various manufacturers equipments at a variety of levels, including the physical level, the signalling level, and the management level.

  • Multivendor ATM PVC interoperability (DARPA, DIA, DISA, NASA, NRL, NSA)
  • Multivendor ATM SVC interoperability (NASA, NRL, NSA, DIA, Bellcore)
  • Multivendor ATM Net Mgmt. interoperability (NASA, NRL, DIA, Bellcore)
  • Public Net/Private Net interoperability (NSA, NRL, DIA, Bellcore, Bell Atlantic)

• Network Management

  The network management experiments will investigate techniques for managing large global networks using a variety of protocols. There is also an experiment to pursue integrating the network management of the SONET and ATM layers, as well as investigating the benefits of adding security and distributing management functions.

  • SONET Network Management [SNMP/CMIP] (DISA, NRL, Bellcore)
  • ATM Network Management [SNMP] (NRL, DIA, Bellcore)
  • ATM Network Management [GOTS] (DIA)
  • Integrated Network Management (NRL, DISA, NASA, DIA, Bellcore)
  • Distributed Network Management (Bellcore)
  • Secure Network Management Interface (DIA, Bellcore)

• Routing

  Routing of ATM streams is still an open issue in the research community. This set of experiments will investigate some of the proposed methods for ATM routing, to see which methods are the most promising. The results of these experiments will be fed into the standards bodies for consideration.

  • PRP (NRL)
  • NBMA (NRL)
  • Routing Arbiter (NRL)
  • Adaptive Routing (NRL)

• User Connections

  This set of experiments will look into the feasibility of pushing application-application rates as high as possible, with the eventual goal of sustained transfer rates of greater than 1 gigabit/second (Gb/s) application to application

  • TAXI (140 Mb/s) (DARPA, DIA, DISA, NASA, NRL)
  • OC-3/STS-3c (DARPA, DIA, DISA, NASA, NRL, NSA)
  • OC-12/STS-12c (DIA, NRL, NASA, NSA)
  • OC-48/STS-48c (DIA, NRL, NSA )

• Traffic Management

  One of the hot issues for congestion and flow control in ATM networks is traffic management. This set of experiments will investigate the various methods of rate shaping and traffic management as it affects congestion and flow control through the backbone. The results of these experiments will be fed into the appropriate standards bodies for consideration.

  • Study Plan (Bellcore)
  • Prototype Resource Allocation Scheme (Bellcore)
  • Prototype Monitoring Mechanism (Bellcore)
  • Prototype Congestion Control (Bellcore, NASA)
  • Dynamic Bandwidth Allocation (DIA)

• Signaling

  Signaling is the process by which ATM connections are established, before the information starts to flow. The standards for signalling, especially switch-switch, are still in flux in the standards bodies. These experiments will investigate issues related to signalling, including a package written by NRL called VINCE which is a vendor-independant method of signalling between heterogeneous equipments. The results of these experiments will be fed back into the standards bodies for consideration.

  • Port Q.93B signaling software (Bellcore, NRL, DIA)
  • Extension of Q.93B signaling software (Bellcore, NRL)
  • Network availability and robustness (Bellcore)
  • VINCE (NRL, DIA)
  • Phase 2 Signaling (NRL)
  • RSVP (NRL)

• Security

  In order for the DoD to make use of the public network, security mechanisms will be needed to insure data integrity and confidentiality. These experiments will demonstrate security products under development, and characterize the impact of having security in the network.

  • Prototype SONET Encryptor (NSA)
  • Prototype ATM Encryptor (DARPA, DIA, DISA, NASA, NRL, NSA)
  • KG-189 (NRL, NSA)
  • FORTEZZA PCMCIA cards (NSA)
  • Compartmented Mode Workstation (DIA)

• Miscellaneous

  • LAN emulation (NASA, DIA)
  • Virtual LANs (NASA, DIA)
  • ATM adapters (NRL, NASA, DIA)
  • Star vs. Mesh vs. other topologies (NRL, DIA, others?)
  • ATM Multicast (DIA, NASA, NRL)

It is a fact of life that not everybody will throw away their current investment in technology and move to the latest and greatest. Therefore, there is a very real problem in connecting legacy systems to SONET/ATM networks. These experiments will investigate issues on how to connect to and interoperate with existing/legacy systems, from 9.6 Kb/s to 45 Mb/s.

• ATM-based firewalls (NASA, DIA)
• Tunneling IP through ATM (DIA)
• T-1 Interfacing [NetEdge] (DISA)
• Routing (DIA)
• Supporting Ethernet NetEdge (DIA), (DISA)
• ATM DS-1 Mux Interfacing(DISA)
• ATM DS-3 Mux Interfacing(DISA)
• Reduced Bandwidth Interoperability Testing
• Reduced Bandwidth over DCSC
• FDDI/Ethernet (DIA, Bell Atlantic)
• SLIP (DIA)
• Router Interfacing (DIA)
• JWICS/DSNET3 Prototype Interfacing (DIA)

III. Connectivity to other platforms

In order to test the interoperability which ATDnet is pushing, and also in order to collaborate with other sites around the country, it is necessary to connect to other sites/platforms. These experiments will demonstrate the ability to work across various networks and the ACTS satellite.

• Connectivity to the NSFNet (NASA, DARPA, DIA)
• Connectivity to the Internet (NRL, others?)
• Connectivity to DARTNet (NRL)
• Connectivity to SCAMPI (DISA)
• ACTS connectivity (NASA)
• Connectivity to MAGIC/CALREN/DREN/others?

IV. Applications

Although the network research is vital and needs to be done, the applications that are developed for the users will be the driving force and main benefit of Global Grid. This set of experiments looks at some of the applications that users need/want for a user-friendly, efficient work environment. Some of the application experiments listed below are not visible at the user level, but provide significant improvements as to how data is handled and processed within the network. Finally, some of the experiments builds on existing software available on the Internet to see what, if any, benefits accrue from using existing software.

• Multimedia

  • Video teleconferencing (DARPA, Bell Atlantic, DIA, DISA, NASA, NRL, NSA)
  • Multimedia conferencing (DARPA, Bell Atlantic, DIA, DISA, NASA, NRL)
  • NCSA Mosaic/World Wide Web (DARPA, Bell Atlantic, DIA, DISA, NASA, NRL, NSA)
  • Beta-test Communique 4.0 (DARPA, Bell Atlantic, DIA, DISA, NASA, NRL, NSA)
  • MBone (NRL, NASA, DIA)

• Ubiquitous computing (NASA, NSA)
• Andrew File System (DARPA, Bell Atlantic, DIA, DISA, NASA, NRL, NSA)
• ATM API (NASA)
• Network-connected mass storage (NASA)
• Workstation I/O performance optimization (NASA)
• Video server (NASA, DIA)
• Client/Server applications (DIA)
• TCP replacement (NASA)

V. Miscellaneous

• Provisioning HIPPI Connections

  • HIPPI management research (Bellcore)
  • HIPPI connection research (Bellcore)
  • HIPPI - ATM gateway (NRL, NASA, NSA, Bellcore)
  • HIPPI packet/burst traffic research (Bellcore)
  • HIPPI end-end interoperability (Bellcore, NASA, NSA, DIA, NRL)

• Workstation I/O Optimization (DIA)