IP over Avian Carriers

Under RFC 1149, a homing pigeon can carry Internet Protocol traffic.

In computer networking, IP over Avian Carriers (IPoAC) is a joke proposal to carry Internet Protocol (IP) traffic by birds such as homing pigeons. IP over Avian Carriers was initially described in RFC 1149 issued by the Internet Engineering Task Force, written by David Waitzman, and released on April 1, 1990. It is one of several April Fools' Day Request for Comments.

Waitzman described an improvement of his protocol in RFC 2549, IP over Avian Carriers with Quality of Service (1 April 1999). Later, in RFC 6214—released on 1 April 2011, and 13 years after the introduction of IPv6—Brian Carpenter and Robert Hinden published Adaptation of RFC 1149 for IPv6.[1]

IPoAC has been successfully implemented, but for only nine packets of data, with a packet loss ratio of 55% (due to operator error),[2] and a response time ranging from 3,000 seconds (50 min) to over 6,000 seconds (100 min). Thus, this technology suffers from high latency.[3]

  1. ^ B. Carpenter; R. Hinden (1 April 2011). Adaptation of RFC 1149 for IPv6. Internet Engineering Task Force. doi:10.17487/RFC6214. ISSN 2070-1721. RFC 6214. Informational. This is an April Fools' Day Request for Comments.
  2. ^ "The informal report from the RFC 1149 event". BLUG. 28 April 2001. Archived from the original on 2014-11-03. Retrieved 2014-09-24.
  3. ^ Momot, Chris (2008-07-28). "IP over Avian Carriers high latency". Calgary Herald. p. 15. Retrieved 2022-03-31 – via Newspapers.com.