Session
Dynamic Coalition on the Interplanetary Internet (DC-Interplanetary)
Theater
Duration (minutes): 60
Format description: Opting for a 60-minute session allows for a focused exploration of the new topic of "Interplanetary Internet Governance." It will also secure time for Q&A and engagement with the attendees. The Theater layout ensures access to a large audience size and fosters greater focus on the new topic with a clear view of the stage.
As humanity stands on the cusp of an exciting reentry into human and robotic space exploration of the Moon, this panel will delve into the need of a governance framework to guide the establishment, operation, and use of the Interplanetary Internet. It will address lessons learned from the Internet, particularly highlighting multistakeholder governance as essential for fostering a common, open, and shared network environment even in space.
1) The session will use the technical tools provided by IGF with a dedicated personnel to manage real-time communication between onsite and online participants, ensuring equal engagement opportunities. 2) The session will seek to include interactive polls and clear communication to optimize the experience for both onsite and online attendees. 3) The session will seek to utilize platforms like Slido to foster participation and interaction, ensuring accessibility and engagement for all attendees.
- Yosuke Kaneko, IPNSIG, WEOG
- Vinton G. Cerf, Google, Private sector, WEOG
- Scott Pace, George Washington University, Academia, WEOG
- Laura DeNardis, Georgetown University, Academia, WEOG
- Marc Blanchet, Viagénie, Technical community, WEOG
- Scott Burleigh, IPNSIG, Technical community, WEOG
- Roberto Gaetano, EURALO, Civil society, WEOG
- Samo Grasic, The Abdus Salarm International Centre for Theoretical Physics, Academia, Eastern Europe
- Yosuke Kaneko, IPNSIG, Technical Community, WEOG
- Vinton G. Cerf, Google, Private sector, WEOG
- Samo Grasic, The Abdus Salam International Centre for Theoretical Physics, Academia, Eastern Europe
- Mohamed-Slim Alouini, KAUST University, Academia, Asia Pacific
Roberto Gaetano
Scott Burleigh
Yosuke Kaneko
9. Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure
9.1
9.3
9.5
9.a
9.b
9.c
Targets: The proposed panel on Interplanetary Internet governance directly contributes to SDG 9: "Build resilient infrastructure, promote inclusive and sustainable industrialization, and foster innovation." By working toward multistakeholder governance, it ensures resilient space infrastructure, promotes inclusive decision-making, and fosters innovation in space exploration, aligning with the SDGs' goals.
Report
The session was opened by Vint Cerf, who provided the historical perspective and the vision for the Interplanetary Networks. He briefly described the first steps of Interplanetary Communication, dating back to the mid-60’s, and the technical progress made in later years. It became clear that a new robust protocol was needed to manage interplanetary communications. He concluded stating that this technical development, involving also relevant commercial interests, required a governance model. And this is the main reason why this issue is brought here at the IGF.
The second speaker was Yosuke Kaneko. He focused on the technical aspects of interplanetary communication and its challenges. He described the progress made since the first Apollo mission in 1969, and how this progress has been the result of a tremendous effort not only by national space agencies but also the private sector, as well as international partnerships. He described the LunaNet, that will become the foundational infrastructure for us to communicate with the astronauts and the moon and the infrastructure that we will deploy on the lunar surface. Since we need to design a governance system for these processes, the speaker suggests that we should look at what has been done to design and implement a governance system for the Internet. It is the multi-stakeholder model that has contributed to make the Internet so robust and successful, and we should use it as a model for the Interplanetary Networks governance. He concluded his contribution mentioning the unique challenges of the Interplanetary communication, like the long delays due to the limited speed of light, or the movement of the planets and spacecrafts that can be an obstacle to the signal. The Delay-Tolerant Network (DTN) technology is the answer to solve these problems.
The third speaker, Samo Grasic, described in more detail the DTN technology, providing also examples of application.
He stated that the DTN is essentially a protocol that is delay and fault tolerant, i.e. that can cope with the disruptions created by long delays in receiving answers to the messages and faults created by temporary unavailability of the stations. He described some practical applications on Earth of the principle: for instance the one by which nomadic populations in Northern Scandinavia can track the movement of their reindeer herds; or the one by which data are collected by a helicopter flying over remote villages and delivered at the destination when these earth stations are within reach. This technology can be used on Earth, and can also be used in space. He concluded describing the pilot project he is working on, that is to actually build an operational DTN network, that uses actual machines, actual protocols, and actually spreads it globally.
The last speaker, Mohamed-Slim Alouini, focused on applications of the technology to “connect the unconnected”.
His first example was about a village in remote areas, where current communication technologies are either not available or have prohibitive costs. They had educational libraries that needed to be updated daily. In this case, with DTN technologies, we can use anything as a transportation system, as for instance a bus travelling to these remote areas, that can carry the information to be delivered to destination when the recipients is within reach. The libraries will receive the updates depending on the schedule of the bus, but this would be good enough in this case. The second example is related to IoT. To connect these devices in real time is not always possible, because of several factors, including energy consumption that a real time connection would require. However, DTN will allow to limit the transmission to the time window when the device is visible by the recipient. The last example is about underwater communication to collect data from sensors. There are physical limitations to the range that can be covered, so again DTN can be used to have an actual transmission only when a suitable vehicle for the information is within reach. Also, you want to have a wake-up system that allows the device to be in sleep mode between transmissions. There are many areas in which there is opportunity for research.
The moderator made two comments: progress in communication is not just providing more speed and bandwidth to “privileged” users but also providing meaningful access to underserved users; there is urgency to develop and deploy a multi-stakeholder governance model for the Interplanetary Networks before decisions are taken by commercial interests and other powers without users having a voice.
There were several questions, both on technical issues as well as on governance, that concluded the session.
The recording of the session can be seen at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QchXL48o5Kk