DOD standard internet protocol

The Internet Protocol is designed for use in interconnected systems of packet-switched computer communication networks. Such as system has been called a 'catenet'. The internet protocol provides for transmitting blocks of data called datagrams from sources to destinations, where sources and destinations are hosts identified by fixed length addresses. The internet protocol also provides for fragmentation and reassembly of long datagrams, if necessary, for transmission through 'small packet' networks. This document is based on five earlier editions of the ARPA Internet Protocol Specification, and the present text draws heavily from them. There have been many contributors to this work both in terms of concepts and in terms of text. This edition revises the details security, compartmentation, and precedence features of the internet protocol. (Author)