Disruption tolerant chat

Internet Relay Chat (IRC) is a critical application in military networks for maintaining situational awareness and conducting battle management at all echelons. But these networks are often subject to frequent disconnections, limited bandwidth, and long delays, especially when using satellite services and field radios. Such conditions are inhospitable to TCP, and thus the standard IRC protocol, which uses TCP for transport. In this work, we have applied the emerging Delay Tolerant Networking architecture to IRC to assist operations in challenged networks. Using the Delay Tolerant Networking Research Grouppsilas (DTNRG) Reference Implementation of the Bundle Protocol, we have developed a transparent proxy for server-to-server IRC connections that encapsulates IRC messages over Bundles and performs application-specific services useful in disruption-prone conditions.