CurrentINFORMATIONALIRTF stream

RFC 5325: Licklider Transmission Protocol - Motivation

In plain English — editorial summary, not part of the RFC

This document describes the motivation for the development of the Licklider Transmission Protocol (LTP) designed to provide retransmission-based reliability over links characterized by extremely long message round-trip times (RTTs) and/or frequent interruptions in connectivity. Since communication across interplanetary space is the most prominent example of this sort of environment, LTP is principally aimed at supporting "long-haul" reliable transmission in interplanetary space, but it has applications in other environments as well. In an Interplanetary Internet setting deploying the Bundle protocol, LTP is intended to serve as a reliable convergence layer over single-hop deep-space radio frequency (RF) links. LTP does Automatic Repeat reQuest (ARQ) of data transmissions by soliciting selective-acknowledgment reception reports. It is stateful and has no negotiation or handshakes. This document is a product of the Delay Tolerant Networking Research Group and has been reviewed by that group. No objections to its publication as an RFC were raised. This memo defines an Experimental Protocol for the Internet community.

Document record

Document ID: RFC5325
Published: September 2008
Authors: S. Burleigh; M. Ramadas; S. Farrell
Status: INFORMATIONAL
Stream: IRTF
Area: —
Pages: 23
Also known as: —

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The document record above — title, authors, date, status, stream, area, relationships, DOI and errata — is imported verbatim from the public RFC Editor index. The “in plain English” section is editorial: written by The metasystema editorial team, not part of the RFC. Where the two differ, the RFC text governs.

Last checked against the RFC Editor index on 23 August 2026. RFCs are never revised after publication; changes are issued as new documents.

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