SCPS

  

http://www.scps.org/

 

SCPS is a protocol suite designed allow communication over challenging environments. Originally developed jointly by NASA and DoD’s USSPACECOM to meet their various needs and requirements. These protocols have been found to be applicable in meeting the needs of the satellite and wireless communities.

SCPS, a completely open and proven technology, has met the needs of commercial, educational, and military environments.

The SCPS protocols include:

A file handling protocol (the SCPS File Protocol, or SCPS-FP), optimized towards the up-loading of spacecraft commands and software, and the downloading of collections of telemetry data. The SCPS-FP is based on the well-known Internet File Transfer Protocol (FTP).

An underlying retransmission control protocol (the SCPS Transport Protocol, or SCPS-TP), optimized to provide reliable end-to-end delivery of spacecraft command and telemetry messages between computers that are communicating over a network containing one or more potentially unreliable space data transmission paths. The SCPS-TP is based on the well-known Internet Transmission Control Protocol (TCP). Note that the SCPS-TP extensions to TCP will solve similar problems in other environments, such as those of the mobile/wireless and tactical communications communities.

A data protection mechanism (the SCPS Security Protocol, or SCPS-SP) that provides the end-to-end security and integrity of such message exchange. The SCPS-SP is derived from the Secure Data Network (SDNS) "SP3" protocol, the ISO Network Layer Security Protocol (NLSP), the Integrated Network Layer Security Protocol (I-NLSP), and the Internet Engineering Task Force's (IETF) Internet Protocol Security (IPSEC) Encapsulating Security Payload (ESP) and Authentication Header (AH) protocols.

A networking protocol (the SCPS Network Protocol, or SCPS-NP) that supports both connectionless and connection-oriented routing of these messages through networks containing space or other wireless data links. The SCPS-NP is based on the well-known Internet Protocol (IP), with modifications to support new space routing needs and increased communications efficiency.

The Space Communications Protocol Standards (SCPS) exist as full ISO standards, final Recommendations of the international Consultative Committee for Space Data Systems (http://www.ccsds.org) and as United States Military Standards.