In computer networking, IP over Avian Carriers (IPoAC) is a humorously-intended proposal to carry Internet Protocol (IP) traffic by birds such as homing pigeons. IP over Avian Carriers was initially described in RFC 1149 , a "Request for Comments" (RFC) issued by the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) written by D. Waitzman and released on 1 April 1990 (April Fools' Day). It is one of several April 1 RFCs.
Waitzman described an improvement of his protocol in RFC 2549 , IP over Avian Carriers with Quality of Service (1 April 1999).
IPoAC has been successfully implemented, but for only nine packets of data, with a packet loss ratio of 55%, and a response time ranging from 3000 seconds to over 6000 seconds. Thus, this technology suffers from poor latency.
Real-life implementation
On 28 April 2001 IPoAC was actually implemented by the Bergen Linux user group. They sent nine packets over a distance of approximately five kilometers (three miles), each carried by an individual pigeon and containing one ping (ICMP Echo Request), and received four responses.
Script started on Sat Apr 28 11:24:09 2001vegard@gyversalen:~$ /sbin/ifconfig tun0tun0 Link encap:Point-to-Point Protocol inet addr:10.0.3.2 P-t-P:10.0.3.1 Mask:255.255.255.255 UP POINTOPOINT RUNNING NOARP MULTICAST MTU:150 Metric:1 RX packets:1 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0 TX packets:2 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0 collisions:0 RX bytes:88 (88.0 b) TX bytes:168 (168.0 b)vegard@gyversalen:~$ ping -i 900 10.0.3.1PING 10.0.3.1 (10.0.3.1): 56 data bytes64 bytes from 10.0.3.1: icmp_seq=0 ttl=255 time=6165731.1 ms64 bytes from 10.0.3.1: icmp_seq=4 ttl=255 time=3211900.8 ms64 bytes from 10.0.3.1: icmp_seq=2 ttl=255 time=5124922.8 ms64 bytes from 10.0.3.1: icmp_seq=1 ttl=255 time=6388671.9 ms--- 10.0.3.1 ping statistics ---9 packets transmitted, 4 packets received, 55% packet lossround-trip min/avg/max = 3211900.8/5222806.6/6388671.9 msvegard@gyversalen:~$ exitScript done on Sat Apr 28 14:14:28 2001Other avian data transfer methods
Rafting photographers already use pigeons as a sneakernet to transport digital photos on flash media from the camera to the tour operator. Over a 30 mile distance a single pigeon may be able to carry tens of gigabytes of data in around an hour, which on an average bandwidth basis compares very favorably to current ADSL standards, even when accounting for lost drives.
Inspired by RFC 2549, on 9 September 2009 the marketing team of The Unlimited, a regional company in South Africa, decided to host a tongue-in-cheek "Pigeon Race" between their pet pigeon "Winston" and local telecom company Telkom SA. The race is to send 4 gigabytes of data from Howick to Hillcrest, approximately 60 km apart. The pigeon carrying a microSD card (an avian variant of a sneakernet), versus a Telkom ADSL line. Winston beat the data transfer over Telkom's ADSL line, with a total time of two hours, six minutes and 57 seconds from uploading data on the microSD card to completion of download from card. At the time of Winston's victory, the ADSL transfer was just under 4% complete.
These kinds of simple bulk transport do not use the Internet Protocol.
See also
- Semaphore Flag Signaling System
- Victorian Internet
- Ankh-Morpork City Watch#Communications
- Homing pigeon
- April Fools' Day RFC
References
- ^ Bergen Linux User Group's CPIP Implementation
- ^ Birds in the picture - The Denver Post
- ^ "Israeli pigeons faster than ADSL"
- ^ "Pigeon Race 2009"
- ^ "Pigeon transfers data faster than South Africa's Telkom", Reuters, 9/9/09
- ^ "SA pigeon 'faster than broadband'", BBC, 10/9/09
External links
- "Carrier Pigeons Bringing Contraband into Prisons", Bruce Schneier, www.schneier.com (blog), June 27, 2008
- Pigeon-powered Internet takes flight, Stephen Shankland, CNET News, May 4, 2001
- "Winston the homing pigeon draws tweets of support", The Mail and Guardian, September 10, 2009
- "The Unlimited"
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