Delay tolerant networking

Sometimes, people need to send messages or information to each other even if they're not close by or if there's no internet or phone service available. One way they can do this is by using a system called "delay tolerant networking."

Let's pretend you have a message you want to send to your friend who lives on the other side of the world. But you don't have Wi-Fi or cell service to send the message through, so what do you do? Delay tolerant networking comes to the rescue!

Basically, instead of trying to send the message directly to your friend, the message is broken up into little pieces called "packets." These packets are sent one by one, hopping from one device or network to another until they finally reach your friend.

It's sort of like the game "hot potato." You throw a potato to your friend, but they can't catch it—all they can do is toss it to someone else. This keeps happening until the potato finally reaches your friend. Similarly, your message packets are transferred from one device to another until they finally reach your friend's device.

This process can take a long time, so it's called "delay tolerant." But eventually, all the packets will arrive and the message can be reassembled and delivered to your friend.

Overall, it's a way to send messages across long distances or in remote areas where there's no internet or phone service. It might be slower than normal messaging, but it gets the job done!