Quota based routing protocol in disruption tolerant networks

Disruption Tolerant Networks (DTN's) are networks which do not have steady connection between the node and the network. They use contact between the nodes and their mobility for communication between them. Due to the limitation in network resources and buffer space DTN's are prone to flood attacks. Here the attackers flood many packets into the network or replicates of the same packets into the network to deplete or overuse the bandwidth and buffer space. Here we employ a rate limiting method to stop these attacks. Where each node is assigned a quota over the number of packets each node can send and a quota over the number of times a single packet can be replicated in that time limit allotted to it. Here a claim-carry and check approach is used. Where each node carries its claim and exchanges it with other nodes when in contact. When they move around carrying the claims and exchanging them if any inconsistency is detected then it is detected and the flooder node is found and stopped in that time interval. The network operator records the time the flooder node is blocked and releases it after the allotted time limit expires. By this the attacks are brought low to a significantly lower limit. Only a negligible amount of attack still exists.