The Recursive Network Architecture (RNA) reuses a single, flexible protocol for different layers of the protocol stack. In conventional stacks, protocol layers are differentiated by the distinct services each provides. RNA allows protocol stacks to adjust at runtime, which allows more dynamic composition of services, both within stacks and in the way stacks of individual hops form an overall network architecture.
RNA extends the Multi-Domain Communication Model (MCDM) that emerged from the DARPA/NSF X-Bone research. RNA's approach recognizes the value of services between endpoints at a variety of scopes and layers, the similarity of service primitives at different layers, the similarity between 'real' and 'virtual' service layers, and that protocols are defined as much by the location of their endpoints as their services.
During the first year, the RNA project will focus on the design of the structure of the metaprotocol and develop a subset of its services and a preliminary stack manager. RNA will explore how a single network stack can support diverse environments, and may impact the design of more flexible stacks with more useful interlayer coordination. Results will be presented at meetings and in publications, and the code will be made available on-line.
The Recursive Network Architecture (RNA) explores the relationship of layering to protocol and network architecture. RNA examines the implications of using a single, tunable protocol for different layers of the protocol stack, reusing basic protocol operations across different protocol layers to avoid reimplementation. The primary goal of this work is to encourage cleaner cross-layer interaction and to support dynamic service composition, and to gain an understanding of how layering affects architecture. The project developed a first-principles science of multiparty communication, demonstrating the unifying principle of recursion as applied to generic networking. This unification assumes only that a number of parties want to communicate and that they support heterogeneous capabilities; naming, layering, virtualization, and recursion are the logical consequence of these two minimal assumptions. Forwarding is a degenerate case of tail-recursion, and naming and name translation are a consequence of layering. This unification also demonstrated how to natively integrate packet switching, circuit switching, and provisioning in a single architecture. A true-recursive forwarding variant was determined to natively support quantum repeater forwarding. The research led to the exploration of the role of modularity, self-similarity, and abstraction in networking as distinct from their use in computing, and the consideration of the RNA architecture as a system for reasoning about network architecture. The project resulted in a prototype based on the Click modular router architecture, extended to support dynamic stack path determination. Publications: J. Touch, I. Baldine, R. Dutta., G. Finn, B. Ford, S. Jordan, D. Massey, A. Matta., C. Papadopoulos, P. Reiher, G. Rouskas, "A Dynamic Recursive Unified Internet Design (DRUID)". Computer Networks, V55 N4, Mar. 2011, pp. 919–935. A local copy is available here. R. Van Meter, J. Touch, C. Horsman, "Recursive Quantum Repeater Networks," Progress in Informatics, N8, Mar. 2011, pp 65-79. J. Touch, "Recursion and the Transport Tussle", PfLDNet 2010, Lancaster, PA, Nov. 2010.
