Session Date/Time: 22 Oct 2025 13:00

DRIP

Summary

This DRIP interim meeting focused on preparing for the upcoming IETF 118 session in Montreal. Key discussions included an update on the "Trustworthy Air Domain Awareness (TADA)" draft, a broad overview of DRIP-related work and required repositioning within other SDOs (ASTM, ICAO, Euro-K), and an introduction to research projects from the Brazilian ITA team, including their interest in a DKI/DKIX reference implementation. The meeting emphasized that no formal decisions or adoption calls would be made, but rather aimed to set the stage for deeper discussions in Montreal.

Key Discussion Points

Meeting Logistics: The chair opened the meeting, reminded participants of the IETF Note Well, and confirmed note-taking was underway in the pad. Slide sharing for presentations was managed by the chair.
Trustworthy Air Domain Awareness (TADA) Draft (Adam):
- Purpose: The draft aims to provide global harmonization for Civil Aviation Authorities (CAAs) wanting to adopt DRIP entity tags within their air domain awareness ecosystems.
- Content Areas: The document covers registration request/response models and methods, an RDAP extension, authentication and access control, and X.509 certificates (referred to as DKICs, derived from the DKI document).
- Missing Sections: The author highlighted the need for a testing and verification section, common in compliance documents. Challenges include defining tests for HTTP APIs and ensuring conformance for X.509 certificates and DNS resource records.
- External Alignment: The draft needs alignment with Drone Squad requirements to potentially achieve pre-approval for compliance in regions like Brazil, the United States, Europe, and Canada.
- Call for Adoption: Adam requested consideration for an adoption call, either under the current or a future DRIP charter.
- Discussion on Scope and Fit:
  - Bob Moskowitz raised concerns about the cost and complexity of rolling out Certificate Authorities (CAs) necessary for DKICs, noting the FAA's experience. He suggested alternatives discussed in DKI might need to be advanced within TADA.
  - Adam clarified that TADA focuses on technical content (API, data models), while the details of CA implementation might be left for CAAs or other SDOs to define.
  - Eric Vyncke questioned if the draft fits the current DRIP charter, noting that compliance documents are typically outside IETF's scope. He suggested that the sections describing plain use of IETF protocols might be informational at best, as IETF cannot force external bodies like CAAs to adopt specific implementations. He also recommended engaging with the Domain Connect Working Group (for multi-party DNS updates) and the RDAP Working Group (for the RDAP extension and mutual TLS authentication).
  - Adam acknowledged the need to engage with the RDAP WG and expressed interest in the Domain Connect WG. The discussion on the draft's fit within DRIP's charter, and whether it should be split into multiple documents or require a rechartering, was deferred to Montreal.
Other Related Work & DRIP Repositioning (Bob Moskowitz):
- ASTM F3411 Revision: Bob's operator privacy draft is being adopted into the F3411 revision, indicating growing interest in operator privacy, including from first responders. This work requires advancement within DRIP.
- New Trajectory Message: Zipline and AX Enterprise have developed a new trajectory message for Detect And Avoid (DAA). This could lead to new IETF work.
- ASTM F3742 (Aircraft to Anything Cert-based Authentication): This document cites IEEE 1609.2 and Bob's DRIP A2X ad hoc session draft. DRIP needs to align more closely with the commercial case of 1609.2, especially with NASA pushing tactical DAA.
- ICAO Trust Framework Meeting: Document 10-169, which includes the DKI profile, relies on underlying documents for implementation details. Bob emphasized the need to expand and advance these profiles in DKI or TADA beyond basic certificate profiles.
- ICAO Navigation Panel: This panel is adding authentication to GPS/GNSS/S-Bots using an updated version of TESLA. Bob is preparing a draft for the DISPATCH WG to introduce these updates. This work is significant for all global constellations.
- ICAO Surveillance Panel: Discussions are ongoing to address the 24-bit ID space issue for ADS-B, potentially involving TESLA.
- Euro-K (EASA): Euro-K is focused on network Remote ID and desires open standards, despite vendor reluctance for strict guidelines. Bob has two drafts relevant to this. Concerns about 5G coverage in Canada highlight the need for alternative approaches like his A2G draft.
- Crowdsource: Adam and Bob both have drafts on crowdsourced remote ID, suggesting a need to merge them to address market confusion with existing commercial products.
- Compression: Bob's work on SCHC (Self-Healing Compression and Header Compression) for A2X and A2G solutions, while outside DRIP, will likely be leveraged.
- Overall Repositioning: Bob stressed that after six years of work, DRIP needs to reposition itself based on the current state of the industry and developments in other SDOs.
- Prototype Implementations: In response to a question from Andre, Bob mentioned Adam's deployed crowdsource implementations and significant interest from a major commercial CA organization in building out CAs. Operator privacy is gaining traction, particularly for first responders who require confidentiality for their aircraft operations.
Brazilian ITA Project (Lorenzo):
- Background: The Brazilian Internet Steering Committee funded a project to increase Brazilian participation in IETF. The ITA team has grants to attend nine IETF meetings through 2028.
- Team: The team includes Lorenzo (professor), Andre Melo, Flavio (PhD students), and Mayara (PhD student), located in various parts of Brazil, Florida (USA), and Sweden.
- Project Axes:
  - Air Sense: Focuses on sensing in complex air environments (e.g., Rio de Janeiro), using game theory, testbed characterization, and emulation of delivery drones with real Brazilian authority data.
  - A3P (Advanced Airspace Availability Protocol): Explores a "digital twin" concept for real-time visualization and understanding of airspace events for various stakeholders.
  - UAV Control Vehicle Scenarios: Motivated by Open RAN use cases, this involves deploying UAVs as Radio Access Networks (RAN) for disaster response (e.g., floods), or for applications like firefighting, and implementing anti-weapon UAV solutions.
- Proposed Contribution: The team is interested in developing a reference implementation for DKI/DKIX, possibly incorporating DNSSEC and rotating keys, with a focus on benchmarking.
- Goals: The presentation aimed to introduce their ongoing research and foster collaboration, rather than proposing new drafts. They are interested in protocol layers, RAN, and full testbed implementations.
- Adam expressed enthusiasm for collaboration with the ITA team in Montreal. All four team members plan to attend Montreal physically.

Decisions and Action Items

The DRIP working group will not make an adoption call for the TADA draft at this interim meeting.
Adam to engage directly with the RDAP Working Group for feedback on the TADA draft's RDAP extension and mutual TLS considerations.
Adam to attend the Domain Connect Working Group session at IETF 118 to explore potential relevance for multi-party DNS updates.
The ITA team expressed interest in developing a reference implementation for DKI/DKIX and will continue this work.

Next Steps

The working group will continue discussions on the TADA draft's scope, fit within the DRIP charter, and potential need for rechartering or document splitting at IETF 118 in Montreal.
Further discussions will be held at IETF 118 regarding DRIP's repositioning in light of ongoing work in SDOs like ASTM, ICAO, and Euro-K, and how to advance relevant drafts (operator privacy, A2X, crowdsource, etc.).
Adam will initiate communication and collaboration with the RDAP Working Group and explore the Domain Connect Working Group.
The Brazilian ITA team will continue their research and development, including the DKI/DKIX reference implementation, and actively participate in DRIP discussions at Montreal and future meetings.
The IETF 118 meeting in Montreal will serve as the primary forum for advancing these technical discussions and potential next steps for the working group's charter and documents.