RFC 1770 (rfc1770) - Page 1 of 6
IPv4 Option for Sender Directed Multi-Destination Delivery
Alternative Format: Original Text Document
Network Working Group C. Graff
Request for Comments: 1770 US Army CECOM
Category: Informational March 1995
IPv4 Option for Sender Directed Multi-Destination Delivery
Status of this Memo
This memo provides information for the Internet community. This memo
does not specify an Internet standard of any kind. Distribution of
this memo is unlimited.
Abstract
This memo defines an IPv4 option to provide a sender directed multi-
destination delivery mechanism called Selective Directed Broadcast
Mode (SDBM). The SDBM provides unreliable UDP delivery to a set of
IP addresses included in the option field of an IPv4 datagram. Data
reliability if required will be provided by the application layer.
This approach was developed to support sender directed multi-
destination delivery to sparsely populated groups with no additional
control traffic. This approach will find application in the
extremely bandwidth constrained tactical military environment, as
well as in some commercial applications requiring sender control of
data delivery.
Background
The Selective Directed Broadcast Mode (SDBM) is an integral part of
the U.S. Army standard for tactical data communication networks as
defined in MIL-STD-188-220() (Reference 1). The MIL-STD-188-220()
defines a protocol architecture for the lower four layers of the
ISO-OSI Reference model. The MIL-STD-188-220() is currently
undergoing a reformatting to be consistent with other DoD standards
that deal with IP networking. These efforts will provide tactical IP
internetting of tactical Army broadcast radio networks, and will
support fully IP compliant internetworking to other types of IP
networks via commercial IP routers. It is the goal of the U.S. Army
to move toward a fully IP compliant internetwork architecture for all
tactical battlefield data communications. The Army does, however,
have a critical need for a reliable, sender directed multi-
destination data transfer capability that is not currently supported
by the existing or emerging internet standards. The SDBM IP option
was developed to meet this need. The required data reliability will
be provided by incorporating an acknowledgement strategy at the
application layer. It is hoped that this IP option, providing multi-
destination capability not currently provided by the current and
Graff