Internet Research Task Force (IRTF)
Mission
The Internet Research Task Force (IRTF) promotes research of importance to the evolution of the Internet by creating focused, long-term Research Groups working on topics related to Internet protocols, applications, architecture and technology.
Overview
The Internet Research Task Force (IRTF) focuses on longer term research issues related to the Internet while the parallel organization, the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF), focuses on the shorter term issues of engineering and standards making.
The IRTF is a composed of a number of focused and long-term Research Groups. These groups work on topics related to Internet protocols, applications, architecture and technology. Research Groups have the stable long term membership needed to promote the development of research collaboration and teamwork in exploring research issues. Participation is by individual contributors, rather than by representatives of organizations.
The IRTF is managed by the IRTF Chair in consultation with the Internet Research Steering Group (IRSG). The IRSG membership includes the IRTF Chair, the chairs of the various Research Groups and other individuals (“members at large”) from the research community selected by the IRTF Chair.
The RFC Editor publishes documents from the IRTF and its Research Groups on the IRTF Stream (RFC 5743).
More Information
The detailed IRTF Research Group guidelines and procedures are described in RFC 2014. In RFC 4440, the Internet Architecture Board (IAB) further details the role of the IRTF.
The procedures for publishing documents on the IRTF RFC Stream are defined in RFC 5743, with additional details found in RFC 5742. The concept of RFC Streams is defined in RFC 4844.
The IRTF follows the IETF Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) disclosure rules.
Current Research Groups
These 11 Research Groups are currently chartered:
- ASRG Anti-Spam Research Group
- CFRG Crypto Forum Research Group
- DTNRG Delay-Tolerant Networking Research Group
- HIPRG Host Identity Protocol Research Group
- ICCRG Internet Congestion Control Research Group
- ICNRG Information-Centric Networking Research Group
- NCRG Network Complexity Research Group
- NMRG Network Management Research Group
- P2PRG Peer-to-Peer Research Group
- RRG Routing Research Group
- SAMRG Scalable Adaptive Multicast Research Group