Networking and Distributed Systems Innovation at Boeing

Computer networks are often taken for granted as digital communication is an essential part of our lives. In order for us to be "mobile" and able to exchange emails, messages, social media updates wherever we go, there is a significantly large, ubiquitous "fixed" networking infrastructure already deployed that we literally hang of wherever we are, potentially changing just our point of attachment as we move. Where this infrastructure is not available, or where it is not as stable as we expect it to be, such as on an airplane, a UAV, or a ship at sea, applications and protocols need to take into account network availability and act accordingly based on, many times limited, available information. This talk will showcase several such examples, discuss the challenges they encounter in networking and distributed systems, and present the research being done at Boeing in order to address these challenges.