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RFC 1149: IP over carrier pigeons

Summary

RFC 1149 humorously describes the transport of IP datagrams by carrier pigeons and was later actually tried out. April Fools’ jokes can convey protocol properties surprisingly clearly. Bandwidth and latency are independent quantities.

Ideas

  • Datagrams are attached to birds on paper or storage media.
  • High latency meets potentially large data throughput per animal.
  • Packet loss takes on an unexpectedly biological meaning.

Remarks

  • RFC 1149 describes an experimental approach and not a generally binding standard.

Recommendations

  • Use RFC 1149 as a teaching example, not as a production network.
  • For offline transports, calculate throughput and latency separately.

References

Read the RFC at the RFC Editor

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