TESTING OF A DTN PROTOCOL - CCSDS FILE DELIVERY PROTOCOL INTER-IMPLEMENTATION TESTING FINAL REPORT

Abstract

The CCSDS has developed the “CCSDS File Delivery Protocol” (CFDP), as a disruption/delay tolerant file transfer protocol. CFDP allows an automatic, reliable file transfer between spacecraft and ground (in both directions) designed to support the operation of spacecraft by means of file transfer and remote file system management. To support the development and fielding of the protocol in an international and cross-supporting environment, an international, inter-operability test program has been developed and successfully executed. First phase testing involved five independent implementations of the Core Procedures of the protocol. The second phase tests involve multi-hop transferring of files using the Extended Procedures. The third phase involves the testing of the SFO Procedures. The latter two phases involved two independent protocol implementations, namely, those of ESA and JPL. This paper constitutes a final report on the process of testing, the test results, the experience gained, and the resulting plans to extend this methodology to other areas within the CCSDS.