Mark Allman, Hans Kruse, Shawn Ostermann. An Application-Level Solution to TCP's Satellite Inefficiencies, Proceedings of the First International Workshop on Satellite-based Information Services (WOSBIS), Rye, New York, November 13, 1996.
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Abstract:

In several experiments using NASA's Advanced Communications Technology Satellite (ACTS), investigators have reported disappointing throughput using the TCP/IP protocol suite over T1 satellite circuits. A detailed analysis of FTP file transfers reveals that the TCP receive window size, the TCP ``Slow Start'' algorithm, and the TCP acknowledgment mechanism contribute to the observed limits in throughput.

To further explore TCP's limitations over satellite circuits, we developed a modified version of FTP (XFTP) that uses multiple TCP connections. By using multiple TCP connections, we have been able to simulate a large, virtual TCP receive window.

Our experiences with XFTP over both actual satellite circuits and a software satellite emulator show that a utilization of better than 90% is possible. Our results also indicate the benefit of introducing congestion avoidance at the application level.

BibTeX:

@inproceedings{AKO96,
    author    =        "Mark Allman and Hans Kruse and Shawn Ostermann",
    title     =        "{An Application-Level Solution to TCP's Satellite Inefficiencies}",
    booktitle =        "Proceedings of the First International Workshop on Satellite-based Information Services (WOSBIS)",
    year      =        1996,
    month     =        nov,
}