Towards an architecture for managing delay-tolerant emergency networks

Delay-Tolerant Networks (DTNs), just like any other computer network, need to be managed. However, until now little was achieved in the research for specific management solutions for DTNs, due to the fact that these networks are still in their infancy. In this paper we present some initial steps in the development of a management architecture for Delay-Tolerant Emergency Networks (DTENs), which is a specific case of DTN. Among the design definitions of our architecture, we can cite the use of the policy continuum concept, the division of the network into groups and the need for autonomic control loops to implement local management functions.