Bulk Data Transfers through an Airline Delay-Tolerant Network

In the era of big data, the Internet engineering community is searching for solutions to alleviate the issues caused by the constantly increasing data traffic. In this paper, we attempt to revive the sneakernet paradigm as a possible solution for non-real-time bulk data transfers. We propose a sample network architecture that takes advantage of the existing worldwide airline infrastructure, and leverages Delay-Tolerant Networking architecture to transfer data over the air in an automated way. We exploit Contact Graph Routing algorithm, which utilizes flight schedules to route bundles based on delivery delay or cost minimization. We examine the applicability of our proposal in a scenario that includes bulk space-data transfers between ESA data centers. Through simulations, we illustrate that the proposed scheme can deliver data efficiently between connected data centers, while the achieved throughput increases with the amount of data transmitted. Keywords-Delay/Disruption Tolerant Networking; Airport network; Sneakernet; Bulk data; Contact Graph Routing.