Networks without Borders: Communication despite Disconnection

Communication in the face of intermittent, short-lived and unreliable connectivity can be difficult when relying solely on Internet protocols which have an implicit assumption of well-connectedness. Furthermore, use of these protocols is impossible when there is no fully connected end-to-end path between hosts. We describe Euonym, an architecture that allows arbitrary intermediate hosts to be interposed between endpoints on-the-fly. These hosts provide routing, buffering and other support services to help relieve reliance on end-to-end paths and support communication in heterogeneous, intermittently-connected networks. We use the architecture to demonstrate use of regular TCP-based applications across long-term disconnections, highly heterogeneous links and networks without connected end-to-end paths.