DLEP Radio Band Extension
draft-ietf-manet-dlep-radio-band-04

Manet                                                         H.R. Rogge
Internet-Draft                                           Fraunhofer FKIE
Intended status: Standards Track                           17 March 2026
Expires: 18 September 2026

                       DLEP Radio Band Extension
                  draft-ietf-manet-dlep-radio-band-04

Abstract

   This document defines an extension to the Dynamic Link Exchange
   Protocol (DLEP) to provide information about frequency bands used by
   the radio.

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   provisions of BCP 78 and BCP 79.

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   This Internet-Draft will expire on 18 September 2026.

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Table of Contents

   1.  Introduction  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   2
     1.1.  Requirements Language . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   2
   2.  Extension Usage and Identification  . . . . . . . . . . . . .   3
   3.  Radio Band Data Item  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   3
   4.  Security Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   5
   5.  IANA Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   5
     5.1.  Extension Type Value  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   5
     5.2.  Data Item Value . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   5
   6.  Normative References  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   5
   7.  Informative References  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   6
   Author's Address  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   6

1.  Introduction

   The dynamic Link Exchange Protocol (DLEP) is defined in [RFC8175].
   It provides the exchange of link-related control information between
   DLEP peers.  DLEP peers are consist of a modem and a router.  DLEP
   defines a base set of mechanisms as well as support for possible
   extensions.  This document defines one such extension to provide
   information about the frequency bands used by the radio.

1.1.  Requirements Language

   In many IETF documents, several words, when they are in all capitals
   as shown below, are used to signify the requirements in the
   specification.  These capitalized words can bring significant clarity
   and consistency to documents because their meanings are well defined.
   This document defines how those words are interpreted in IETF
   documents when the words are in all capitals.

   *  These words can be used as defined here, but using them is not
      required.  Specifically, normative text does not require the use
      of these key words.  They are used for clarity and consistency
      when that is what's wanted, but a lot of normative text does not
      use them and is still normative.

   *  The words have the meanings specified herein only when they are in
      all capitals.

   *  When these words are not capitalized, they have their normal
      English meanings and are not affected by this document.

   Authors who follow these guidelines should incorporate this phrase
   near the beginning of their document:

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      The key words "MUST", "MUST NOT", "REQUIRED", "SHALL", "SHALL
      NOT", "SHOULD", "SHOULD NOT", "RECOMMENDED", "NOT RECOMMENDED",
      "MAY", and "OPTIONAL" in this document are to be interpreted as
      described in BCP 14 [RFC2119] [RFC8174] when, and only when, they
      appear in all capitals, as shown here.

2.  Extension Usage and Identification

   The use of the Radio Band Extension SHOULD be configurable.  To
   indicate that the Radio Band Extension is to be used, an
   implementation MUST include the Radio Band Extension Type Value in
   the Extensions Supported Data Item.  The Extensions Supported Data
   Item is sent and processed according to [RFC8175].

   The Radio Band Extension Type Value is described in Section 5.1.

3.  Radio Band Data Item

   Radio Band Data Item contains information which radio frequency
   resources are being used.  These values are usually interface
   specific and static during the DLEP session.

   The Radio Band Data Item can be used multiple times to represent
   multiple radio bands.

   The Item can be used in a neighbor specific message if the radio uses
   dedicated subcarriers to talk to neighbors.

   Frequency selection is often controlled by the radio configuration.
   By giving the radio a standardized way to transmit its selected
   frequency configuration the router can aggregate multiple radios
   settings into a common information page, can do some basic checking
   for configuration mistakes by comparing known radio group
   configuration with their frequency by radio (if the routers have a
   second communication channel) or forward the data to an upper layer
   for visualization.

   The information in this Item gives the router an easy way to
   calculate the spectral efficiency of a radio link, how much bandwidth
   is used for the current data-rate reported by DLEP.  This can be
   integrated into the routing metric to focus traffic on links that use
   the spectrum efficiently.

   The Item can also be used as an interface to a cognitive radio
   controller on the router, analyzing the correlation of transmission
   disruptions with the frequency bands and could (together with the
   Request Link Characteristics message) be used to change the frequency
   of the radio in a standardized way.

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   Both values in the TLV (Carrier Frequency and Bandwidth) are 64 bit
   unsigned integers.

   The format of the Radio Band Data Item is:

   0                   1                   2                   3
   0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   | Data Item Type                | Length                        |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |                                                               |
   +                       Carrier Frequency                       +
   |                                                               |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |                                                               |
   +                           Bandwidth                           +
   |                                                               |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |     Flags     |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+

                   Figure 1: Radio Band Data Item Format

   Data Item Type:  TBD1

   Length:  17

   Center Frequency:  The center frequency of the band in Hz.

   Bandwidth:  The bandwidth of the band in Hz.

   Flags:  Flags field as defined below.

   The Flags field is defined as:

   0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   | Reserved  |U|D|
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+

                    Figure 2: Radio Band Data Item Flags

   U:  Uplink Flag, indicating the band is used for transmitting data.

   D:  Downlink Flag, indicating the band is used for receiving data.

   Reserved:  MUST be written as zero.  Ignored on receipt and left for
      future assignment.

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4.  Security Considerations

   The extension introduces a new Data Item for DLEP.  The extension
   does not inherently introduce any additional vulnerabilities above
   those documented in [RFC8175].  The approach taken to security in
   that document applies equally when running the extension defined in
   this document.

5.  IANA Considerations

   As described below, IANA has assigned two values per this document.
   Both assignments are to registries defined by [RFC8175].

5.1.  Extension Type Value

   IANA has assigned the following value in the "Extension Type Values"
   registry within the "Dynamic Link Exchange Protocol (DLEP)
   Parameters" registry.  The new value is in the range with the
   "Specification Required" [RFC8126] policy:

                  +------+-------------+---------------+
                  | Code | Description | Reference     |
                  +------+-------------+---------------+
                  | TBD2 | Radio Band  | This document |
                  +------+-------------+---------------+

                    Table 1: New Extension Type Value

5.2.  Data Item Value

   IANA has assigned the following value in the "Data Item Type Values"
   registry within the "Dynamic Link Exchange Protocol (DLEP)
   Parameters" registry.  The new value is in the range with the
   "Specification Required" [RFC8126] policy:

                +-----------+-------------+---------------+
                | Type Code | Description | Reference     |
                +-----------+-------------+---------------+
                | TBD1      | Radio Band  | This document |
                +-----------+-------------+---------------+

                        Table 2: New Data Item Value

6.  Normative References

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   [RFC2119]  Bradner, S., "Key words for use in RFCs to Indicate
              Requirement Levels", BCP 14, RFC 2119,
              DOI 10.17487/RFC2119, March 1997,
              <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc2119>.

   [RFC8174]  Leiba, B., "Ambiguity of Uppercase vs Lowercase in RFC
              2119 Key Words", BCP 14, RFC 8174, DOI 10.17487/RFC8174,
              May 2017, <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc8174>.

   [RFC8175]  Ratliff, S., Jury, S., Satterwhite, D., Taylor, R., and B.
              Berry, "Dynamic Link Exchange Protocol (DLEP)", RFC 8175,
              DOI 10.17487/RFC8175, June 2017,
              <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc8175>.

7.  Informative References

   [RFC8126]  Cotton, M., Leiba, B., and T. Narten, "Guidelines for
              Writing an IANA Considerations Section in RFCs", BCP 26,
              RFC 8126, DOI 10.17487/RFC8126, June 2017,
              <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc8126>.

Author's Address

   Henning Rogge
   Fraunhofer FKIE
   Fraunhofer Strasse 20
   53343 Wachtberg
   Germany
   Email: henning.rogge@fkie.fraunhofer.de

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