CCSDS File Delivery Protocol Research Articles

Design and implementation of secured file delivery protocol using enhanced elliptic curve cryptography for class I and class II transactions

<p>This research study introduces an ID-based identity authentication protocol that utilizes the enhanced elliptic curve digital signature algorithm, a cryptographic method developed on elliptic curve cryptography. The protocol enhances the Consultative Committee for Space Data Systems (CCSDS) File Delivery Protocol (CFDP), a pioneering protocol explicitly defined for distant space communications. This study employs both dependable and uncertain modes of the CFDP protocol. To make more secure data transactions, two key security risks are effectively mitigated in this research as a result of applying the proposed enhanced elliptic curve cryptography algorithm (ECC) over the ternary galois field. First, it thwarts the impersonation of a harmful entity during a passive attack. Second, it prevents masquerade attacks, further reinforcing the security of space data transmission. This ID-based authentication protocol, therefore, offers a significant advancement in protecting far-space communications, optimizing the integrity of data exchanged across vast distances.<strong><em></em></strong></p>

CFDP PDU Tunneling Service over DTN Between Heterogeneous Deep Space Communication Assets

In space exploration missions, the spacecraft have limited computing resources. In particular, the communications environments for these spacecraft, whether in deep space or the cislunar region, are characterized by intermittent connectivity loss, long signal-propagation delay, and high bit-error rates between spacecraft and their ground stations. Delay-Tolerant Network (DTN) has been introduced to enable automated, efficient communication among flight-mission entities in these environments. However, most flight-mission entities are not yet equipped for DTN; a mechanism is needed whereby DTN-enabled entities and non-DTN-enabled entities can easily interoperate. The CCSDS (Consultative Committee for Space Data Systems) File Delivery Protocol (CFDP) is supported in both DTN and non-DTN communication fabrics, so perhaps CFDP file transmission can serve as the common communication medium that bridges the two. When CFDP runs without a Bundle Protocol (BP), it requires a more complex CFDP implementation, and multi-hop communication is more difficult to configure. This paper presents a tunneling mechanism that relays CFDP protocol data units (PDUs) between a non-DTN-enabled CFDP entity and a DTN-enabled CFDP entity. This enables CFDP-over-link implementations to bridge into BP networks to simplify multi-hop forwarding through the BP network. A proof-of-concept implementation of the tunneling service has been developed and tested using the Interplanetary Overlay Network (ION) DTN software to evaluate this concept of CFDP PDU relay/forward functionality to enable communication between the two heterogeneous space communication fabrics. Test setup, test results, and future work on the tunneling service are also discussed.

Retransmission Spurts of Deferred NAK ARQ in Fountain Coding Aided CCSDS File-Delivery Protocol

We propose a fountain coding aided CCSDS file-delivery protocol (FCFDP) and analyze its deferred negative acknowledgment (NAK) automatic repeat-request (ARQ) scheme. For ideal fountain codes, an expression for the expected number of retransmission spurts in the FCFDP is derived. The analytical and simulation results show that the expected number of retransmission spurts decreases with the increase of redundant packets. If there are sufficient redundant packets, the expected number of retransmission spurts is close to zero. Therefore, the delays introduced by propagation in deep space communications are dramatically reduced.

In-flight performance of the Van Allen Probes RF telecommunications system

The NASA Van Allen Probes mission (previously called the Radiation Belt Storm Probes) successfully launched on 30 August 2012. The twin spacecraft, designed, built, and operated by The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (JHU/APL), has been successfully operating within Earth׳s radiation belts since then, returning critical science data revealing new insights into the physics of the radiation belts. Because of the extreme radiation environment, all spacecraft subsystems including the communications system had to make special accommodations to withstand the effects of the radiation.Each Van Allen Probes spacecraft׳s telecommunications system includes an S-band version of the Frontier Radio, a solid-state power amplifier, RF routing components, and dual low-gain antennas. This mission marks the first flight of the Frontier Radio, which is baselined for use in the upcoming Solar Probe Plus and Europa Clipper missions. This paper will present an overview of the as-built telecommunications system and its ground station interfaces discuss key communications flight hardware components, and then discuss in detail its activities and performance in-flight, including the launch and commissioning operations, performance enhancements since launch, and performance trending in flight. Pre-launch preparations at the APL 18-m ground station revealed occasional RF interference that could disrupt Van Allen Probe downlink. A monitoring system was installed to help mitigate some interference sources, and to characterize the residual environment and show that RF interference was not a mission risk. Post-launch commissioning activities were driven by the requirement to verify both spacecraft׳s communication systems over multiple ground networks, including JHU/APL׳s own 18-m ground station, the Universal Space Network, and TDRSS. Enhanced science data downlink volume was enabled by expanding the usable field of view of the spacecrafts׳ antennas once in-flight calibrations of the antenna patterns were completed, as well as reducing downlink link margins to a bare minimum when downlinking via APL׳s 18-m dish, where the CFDP (CCSDS File Delivery Protocol) is used to guarantee file delivery. Radiation drove some of the hardware design; the radios have experienced several predicted fault conditions at the predicted rates and have reacted autonomously as designed to minimize impact to the science downlink.

Error counter-based negative acknowledgement mode in CCSDS file delivery protocol

Deep space communication has its own features such as long propagation delays, heavy noise, asymmetric link rates, and intermittent connectivity in space, therefore TCP/IP protocol cannot perform as well as it does in terrestrial communications. Accordingly, the Consultative Committee for Space Data Systems (CCSDS) developed CCSDS File Delivery Protocol (CFDP), which sets standards of efficient file delivery service capable of transferring files to and from mass memory located in the space segment. In CFDP, four optional acknowledge modes are supported to make the communication more reliable. In this paper, we gave a general introduction of typical communication process in CFDP and analysis of its four Negative Acknowledgement (NAK) modes on the respect of file delivery delay and times of retransmission. We found out that despite the shortest file delivery delay, immediate NAK mode suffers from the problem that frequent retransmission may probably lead to network congestion. Thus, we proposed a new mode, the error counter-based NAK mode. By simulation of the case focused on the link between a deep space probe on Mars and a terrestrial station on Earth, we concluded that error counter-based NAK mode has successfully reduced the retransmission times at negligible cost of certain amount of file delivery delay.

Packets interleaving CCSDS file delivery protocol in deep space communication

The traditional retransmission mechanisms are inefficient In solving the problem of data loss In deep-space mission scenarios due to the large round trip delays. Herein, we Introduce packets Interleaving CCSDS me delivery protocol (PI-CFDP) developed to cope with frequent packet losses Inherent In deep-space communications. It is designed by applying fountain codes to CFDP for Interleaving packets prior to transmission. Simulation shows that the PI-CFDP protocol is able to shorten the me delivery time and enhance the validity of communication.

An erasure coding-based loss-tolerant file delivery protocol for deep spacecommunications

In deep space communications, huge delay, asymmetric bandwidth, large BER and packet loss ratio and intermittent link hinder the adoption of terrestrial transmission protocols. To decrease file delivery time, consultative committee for space data systems (CCSDS) file delivery protocol (CFDP) replaces acknowledge (ACK) by negative acknowledge (NAK) and simplifies the procedures of link establishment and link removal. However, feedback information cannot be avoided in CFDP; hence the file delivery performance cannot be further improved. Motivated by the idea of erasure coding, a one-way reliable transmission protocol named loss-tolerant file deliver protocol (LTFDP) that is suitable for deep space long-range file deliveryis proposed in this paper. For LTFDP, if a certain percent of the data segments interweaved by explorers is received, the original data can be de-interweaved successfully by Earth stations; hence reliable transmission is accomplished without NAK or ACK. Obviously, the Earth stations have enough power and memory resources for the iteration process of de-interweaving. In a shorter distance communications scenario such as from the Moon to the Earth, performance of LTFDP is greatly impacted by file size and transmission rate. In contrast, propagation delay is the main factor of file delivery time in a longer distance communication scenario, e.g. from the Mars to the Earth. This paper demonstrated that LTFDP can not only diminish file delivery time greatly and improve goodput by feedback-reduced transmission, but also improve the reliability of deep space communications.

Reliable transmission of consultative committee for space data systems file delivery protocol in deep space communication

In consultative committee for space data systems (CCSDS) file delivery protocol (CFDP) recommendation of reliable transmission, there are no detail transmission procedure and delay calculation of prompted negative acknowledge and asynchronous negative acknowledge models. CFDP is designed to provide data and storage management, story and forward, custody transfer and reliable end-to-end delivery over deep space characterized by huge latency, intermittent link, asymmetric bandwidth and big bit error rate (BER). Four reliable transmission models are analyzed and an expected file-delivery time is calculated with different trans-mission rates, numbers and sizes of packet data units, BERs and frequencies of external events, etc. By comparison of four CFDP models, the requirement of BER for typical missions in deep space is obtained and rules of choosing CFDP models under different uplink state informations are given, which provides references for protocol models selection, utilization and modification.

RF communications subsystem for the Radiation Belt Storm Probes mission

The NASA Radiation Belt Storm Probes (RBSP) mission, currently in Phase B, is a two-spacecraft, Earth-orbiting mission, which will launch in 2012. The spacecraft's S-band radio frequency (RF) telecommunications subsystem has three primary functions: provide spacecraft command capability, provide spacecraft telemetry and science data return, and provide accurate Doppler data for navigation. The primary communications link to the ground is via the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory's (JHU/APL) 18 m dish, with secondary links to the NASA 13 m Ground Network and the Tracking and Data Relay Spacecraft System (TDRSS) in single-access mode. The on-board RF subsystem features the APL-built coherent transceiver and in-house builds of a solid-state power amplifier and conical bifilar helix broad-beam antennas. The coherent transceiver provides coherency digitally, and controls the downlink data rate and encoding within its field-programmable gate array (FPGA). The transceiver also provides a critical command decoder (CCD) function, which is used to protect against box-level upsets in the C&DH subsystem. Because RBSP is a spin-stabilized mission, the antennas must be symmetric about the spin axis. Two broad-beam antennas point along both ends of the spin axis, providing communication coverage from boresight to 70°. An RF splitter excites both antennas; therefore, the mission is designed such that no communications are required close to 90° from the spin axis due to the interferometer effect from the two antennas. To maximize the total downlink volume from the spacecraft, the CCSDS File Delivery Protocol (CFDP) has been baselined for the RBSP mission. During real-time ground contacts with the APL ground station, downlinked files are checked for errors. Handshaking between flight and ground CFDP software results in requests to retransmit only the file fragments lost due to dropouts. This allows minimization of RF link margins, thereby maximizing data rate and thus data volume.

Performance analysis of CCSDS File Delivery Protocol and erasure coding techniques in deep space environments

The rising demand for multimedia services even in hazardous environments, such as space missions and military theatres, and the consequent need of proper internetworking technologies have revealed the performance limits experienced by TCP protocol over long-delay and lossy links and highlighted the importance of the communication features provided by the protocol architectures proposed by the Consultative Committee for Space Data Systems (CCSDS). This paper proposes a CCSDS File Delivery Protocol (CFDP) extension, based on the implementation of erasure coding schemes, within the CFDP itself, in order to assure high reliability to the data communication even in presence of very critical conditions, such as hard shadowing, deep-fading periods and intermittent links. Different encoding techniques are considered and various channel conditions, in terms of Bit Error Ratio and bandwidth values, are tested.

File-based data processing on MESSENGER

As part of the system software, MESSENGER will be using a file-based system for the transfer and processing of instrument and spacecraft data. The flow of files within the MESSENGER software architecture begins with the receipt of science data by the main processor and the creation of files containing these data by the flight software. The files are then autonomously selected for downlink via a priority-based algorithm, packaged for transmittal via the CCSDS File Delivery Protocol (CFDP), and radiated to the ground. The ground software reconstructs the files via its implementation of CFDP, performs further processing on the file, and sends it to the operations data archive and the Science Operations Center. The MESSENGER spacecraft operations team manages the overall handling of these files through interaction with both the flight and ground systems.

Analysis of CCSDS file delivery protocol: immediate NAK mode

We analyze the immediate negative acknowledgment (NAK) mode of the consultative committee for space data systems (CCSDS) file delivery protocol for the single-hop file transfer operation. We propose a timer setting rule that minimizes the expected time taken to transfer a file under the constraint that the throughput efficiency is maximized. Then, we derive the expected file delivery time and compare it with that of the deferred NAK mode. The main contribution is the closed-form expression for evaluating the performance metrics.

Expected File-Delivery Time of Deferred NAK ARQ in CCSDS File-Delivery Protocol

We analyze an automatic repeat-request (ARQ) scheme of the Consultative Committee for Space Data Systems file-delivery protocol for the single-hop file-transfer operation. With regard to performance measures, this paper is mainly concerned with the time taken to transfer a file (file-delivery time) and throughput efficiency. We discuss the ARQ timer-setting rule that minimizes the expected file-delivery time under the constraint that the throughput efficiency is maximized. Then, for that timer-setting rule, we derive the expected file-delivery time.

Expected File-Delivery Time of Deferred NAK ARQ in CCSDS File-Delivery Protocol

Expected File-Delivery Time of Deferred NAK ARQ in CCSDS File-Delivery Protocol

Space link simulator for development of new packet-based space communication protocols

Terrestrial network-based file transfer protocol is known to be unacceptable for the space network environment. The Consultative Committee for Space Data Systems (CCSDS) is about to propose a new file transfer protocol for use in both space and ground-based networks, named CCSDS File Delivery Protocol (CFDP). CFDP is based on packet oriented protocols as its underlaying network layer. The supported packet protocols include CCSDS packet standard protocol and TCP/IP. The space communication link displays specific characteristics different from those of terrestrial ones: larger link delay, higher bit error rates, bursts of errors, packet deordering, etc. For use in CFDP implementation, a packet protocol-based space link simulator is designed and implemented. This space link simulator, named LinkSim, can simulate not only distance driven link delay, but also link quality and link diversity. This paper presents the organization of the space link simulator and the algorithms used to emulate each link characteristic feature. The test shows that the LinkSim program simulates exactly the expected space link environment. An example configuration is also discussed at the end of this paper. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.