Effective buffer and storage management in DTN nodes

Current wired networks have been developed on the basis of the AIMD principle, which offers increased performance and fairness. Nevertheless, there is a vast spectrum of networks, from deep space to wireless sensor networks, where TCP fails to operate, as it results in frequent timeouts and intermittent or no connectivity at all. The DTN (delay/disruption tolerant networking) architecture and particularly the Bundle protocol, offers solutions in networks where low connectivity, big or variable delays and increased error rates are prevalent. Using persistent storage, a DTN node is able to overcome such limitations; the data can be transmitted several times until it is successfully received by the next hop. However, since the conditions in a DTN network might vary, from time to time we may experience high connectivity and low delays. In such cases, data does not need to be transferred to persistent storage, as it will be probably be transmitted shortly and this transfer from buffer to persistent storage and back to buffer, will delay the transmission. In this paper we propose a system which implements a mechanism that aims to minimize packet transfers between buffers and persistent storage and hence accelerate transmissions.