Transmission control protocol performance enhancement for mobile broadband interactive satellite communication system: a cross‐layer approach

Mobile broadband interactive satellite communication system is of great interest in both academic and industrial communities. However, the conventional strict‐layered protocol stack architecture and the standard TCP version perform poorly over satellite link. In this paper, we propose a comprehensive cross‐layer Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) optimization architecture while considering the main factors that affect the TCP performance. In our proposed architecture, we adopt two TCP split connection performance enhancing proxies to isolate the satellite link from the terrestrial part of the broadband satellite communication system. Then, based on the proposed cross‐layer architecture, we present an analytical model for the TCP throughput by taking the modulation and coding (ModCod) mode and the allocated bandwidth into account. In addition, we put forward a TCP‐driven bandwidth sharing and ModCod mode optimization algorithm to maximize the TCP throughput in satellite link. Extensive simulation results illustrate that our proposed comprehensive cross‐layer TCP optimization approach is able to improve the TCP throughput significantly. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Google QUIC performance over a public SATCOM access

Google Quick UDP Internet Connections (QUIC) accounts for almost 10 % of the Internet traffic, and the protocol is not standardized at the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) yet. We distinguish Google QUIC (GQUIC) and IETF QUIC (IQUIC) since there may be differences between the two. Both Google and IETF versions run over UDP and cannot be split the way satellite systems usually do with TCP connections. The need for adapting any‐QUIC parameters needs to be evaluated. Since GQUIC is available, we analyze its behavior over a satellite communication system. In our evaluations, GQUIC quick connection establishment does not compensate an inappropriate congestion control. The resulting page downloading time doubles when using GQUIC as opposed to the performance with optimized split TCP connections. This paper concludes that specific tuning are required when any‐QUIC runs over a high bandwidth delay product (BDP) network.     

Removing redundant TCP functionalities in wired‐cum‐wireless networks with IEEE 802.11e HCCA support

The TCP was originally designed for wired networks, assuming transmission errors were negligible. Actually, any acknowledgment time‐out unconditionally triggers the congestion control mechanism, even in wireless networks in which this assumption is not valid. Consequently, in wireless networks, TCP performance significantly degrades. To avoid this degradation, this paper proposes the so‐called split TCP and UDP. In this approach, the access point splits the TCP connection and uses a customized and lighter transport protocol for the wireless segment. It takes advantage of the IEEE 802.11e Hybrid Coordination Function Controlled Channel Access (HCCA) mechanisms to remove redundant TCP functionalities. Specifically, the HCCA scheduler allows disabling of the congestion control in the wireless link. Similarly, the IEEE 802.11e error control service makes possible to eliminate TCP acknowledgments, therefore reducing the TCP protocol overhead. Finally, the usage of an HCCA scheduler permits providing fairness among the different data flows. The proposed split scheme is evaluated via extensive simulations. Results show that split TCP and User Datagram Protocol outperforms the analyzed TCP flavors—specifically designed for wireless environments—and the split TCP solution, achieving up to 95% of end‐user throughput gain. Furthermore, the proposed solution is TCP friendly because TCP flows are not degraded by the presence of flows by using this approach. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Using SPDY to improve Web 2.0 over satellite links

During the last decade, the Web has grown in terms of complexity, while the evolution of the HTTP (Hypertext Transfer Protocol) has not experienced the same trend. Even if HTTP 1.1 adds improvements like persistent connections and request pipelining, they are not decisive, especially in modern mixed wireless/wired networks, often including satellites. The latter play a key role for accessing the Internet everywhere, and they are one of the preferred methods to provide connectivity in rural areas or for disaster relief operations. However, they suffer of high‐latency and packet losses, which degrade the browsing experience. Consequently, the investigation of protocols mitigating the limitations of HTTP, also in challenging scenarios, is crucial both for the industry and the academia. In this perspective, SPDY, which is a protocol optimized for the access to Web 2.0 contents over fixed and mobile devices, could be suitable also for satellite links. Therefore, this paper evaluates its performance when used both in real and emulated satellite scenarios. Results indicate the effectiveness of SPDY if compared with HTTP, but at the price of a more fragile behavior when in the presence of errors. Besides, SPDY can also reduce the transport overhead experienced by middleboxes typically deployed by service providers using satellite links. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Web browsing optimization over 2.5G and 3G: end‐to‐end mechanisms vs. usage of performance enhancing proxies

2.5 Generation (2.5G) and Third Generation (3G) cellular wireless networks allow mobile Internet access with bearers specifically designed for data communications. However, Internet protocols under‐utilize wireless wide area network (WWAN) link resources, mainly due to large round trip times (RTTs) and request‐‐reply protocol patterns. Web browsing is a popular service that suffers significant performance degradation over 2.5G and 3G. In this paper, we review and compare the two main approaches for improving web browsing performance over wireless links: (i) using adequate end‐to‐end parameters and mechanisms and (ii) interposing a performance enhancing proxy (PEP) between the wireless and wired parts. We conclude that PEPs are currently the only feasible way for significantly optimizing web browsing behavior over 2.5G and 3G. In addition, we evaluate the two main current commercial PEPs over live general packet radio service (GPRS) and universal mobile telecommunications system (UMTS) networks. The results show that PEPs can lead to near‐ideal web browsing performance in certain scenarios. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

卫星共视技术在铁路同步网性能监测中的应用研究

介绍了卫星共视技术基本原理,并将卫星共视技术应用在铁路通信同步网性能监测当中,弥补了现有铁路同步网性能监测的不足。应用中发现了同步网网管设置错误并予以纠正,为维护人员提供了很好的监测手段。建议在铁路通信网中推广应用卫星共视监测技术。     

Modeling and implementation of 5G edge caching over satellite

The fifth‐generation (5G) wireless networks have to deal with the high data rate and stringent latency requirements due to the massive invasion of connected devices and data‐hungry applications. Edge caching is a promising technique to overcome these challenges by prefetching the content closer to the end users at the edge node's local storage. In this paper, we analyze the performance of edge caching 5G networks with the aid of satellite communication systems. First, we investigate the satellite‐aided edge caching systems in two promising use cases: (a) in dense urban areas and (b) in sparsely populated regions, eg, rural areas. Second, we study the effectiveness of satellite systems via the proposed satellite‐aided caching algorithm, which can be used in three configurations: (a) mono‐beam satellite, (b) multi‐beam satellite, and (c) hybrid mode. Third, the proposed caching algorithm is evaluated by using both empirical Zipf‐distribution data and the more realistic Movielens dataset. Last but not least, the proposed caching scheme is implemented and tested by our developed demonstrators which allow real‐time analysis of the cache hit ratio and cost analysis.     

Estimation of packet losses due to propagation impairments: Application to TCP performance over satellite

The transmission control protocol (TCP) is widely used to provide reliable data transmission due to its congestion and flow control mechanisms that provide reliable error recovery in higher layers. In satellite links, various atmospheric phenomena may lead to high packet loss rate (PLR) degrading the TCP throughput. Modern satellite systems operate at frequencies above 10 GHz, where rainfall is the dominant fading mechanism leading to high bit error ratio and correlated packet losses. In this paper, a mathematical analysis is presented to accurately describe the statistical properties of the packet‐error process in a dynamically varying satellite channel. The proposed method is extended to provide PLR estimations when block forward error correction (FEC) is employed. A new Markov‐based method, based on the previous analysis and adapted to the rain‐faded satellite channel, is also presented for the estimation of TCP SACK throughput and tested against simulation results. Based on the information provided by the packet‐error model, a study between the TCP performance under various FEC schemes and a proposed adaptive FEC scheme has provided indications about the superiority of the proposed model. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

低轨卫星网络的航点分段路由及业务性能分析

提出一种基于卫星航点的分段路由(waypoint-segment routing,WSR)算法,WSR算法以可预测的卫星网络拓扑运动周期为基础,根据卫星节点链路状态确定卫星航点的位置;利用分段路由灵活规划分组传输路径的机制,提前响应网络拓扑变化,计算得到一条不受网络拓扑快照切换影响的传输路径。基于NS-3仿真平台进行仿真实验,设置源节点与目标节点在反向缝同侧与不同侧两种场景,选取优化链路状态路由(optimized link state routing,OLSR)算法和最短路径算法与WSR进行时延抖动与分组丢失率的对比分析。实验证明WSR与OLSR相比,两种场景下最大时延抖动分别降低46 ms与126 ms,分组丢失率分别降低30%和21%,并且能够解决拓扑快照切换导致分组传输路径中断的问题。     

Improving performance of TCP over mobile wireless networks

Mobile IP is a network layer protocol for handling mobility of hosts in the Internet. However, mobile IP handoff causes degradation of TCP performance. Hence, there is a need for improving performance of TCP over mobile IP in wireless mobile networks. We propose an approach which handles losses due to both wireless link errors and host mobility. To handle losses due to host mobility, a method for seamless handoff is proposed. Empirical results show that the scheme provides substantial improvement of performance.

无线网络中移动IPv6的TCP性能的研究

用NS-2网络仿真软件给出了MIPv6的TCP性能分析。通过仿真实验检测了MIN从一个基站移动到另一个基站发生切换时，节点的切换处理对TCP性能的影响。实验结果表明节点的处理时间应该被考虑在仿真的参数设置中。     

光突发交换网络的动态TCP特性研究

通过仿真研究了动态业务竞争环境下,不同TCP版本在OBS网络中的传输性能。研究中,以TCP在OBS网络中传送一个固定大小的文件所需的时间作为性能指标,此外,详细分析了突发丢失的内部机制和造成不同TCP版本性能差异的原因。结果表明,TCP SACK性能最好。     

Evaluation of call blocking probabilities in LEO satellite networks

In this paper, we present a new method for calculating call blocking probabilities (CBPs) in a low Earth orbit satellite network that carries voice calls. The calculation of the CBPs uses the Erlang‐B formula, but the traffic intensity has been modified to take into the time and location in which the calls are made. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Applications of network coding to improve TCP performance over wireless mesh networks: a survey

There is growing interest in the use of wireless mesh network (WMN) as a last‐mile option for Internet access. Despite the many benefits of WMNs, the performance of Internet access may not be ideal. One of the main issues is the interaction of transmission control protocol (TCP) with the underlying network. The poor performance of TCP over multi‐hop networks is well‐documented, and extensive research exists, which addresses TCPs foible and enhance TCP performance for multi‐hop environments. This paper provides a thorough survey of TCP performance issues over WMNs and the available solutions to address these issues. Among the existing methods, we focused on network coding (NC) and the ways that TCP interacts with network coded systems. NC is a technique that encodes the received packets in each node before forwarding them towards the destination. The use of NC in the transport layer to address performance issues raised by wireless access is a recent research topic. This paper presents a detailed study of TCP interaction with NC. Some open research areas in this field are suggested. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Rigorous analysis on performance of LEO satellite ground station in urban environment

Microsatellites in low Earth orbits (LEOs) have been in use for the past two decades. LEO satellites are used for public communication and also for scientific purposes, and the orbits vary with the type of satellites and the primary purposes. LEO scientific satellites have a variety of applications, including Earth surveillance and astronomy applications. These satellites provide opportunities for investigations for which alternative techniques are either difficult or impossible to apply. Thus, it may be expected that such missions will be further developed in the near future especially in fields where similar experiments by purely Earth‐based means are impracticable. Ground stations have to be established in order to communicate with such satellites, and the quality of communication depends on the performance of the satellite ground station, in addition to that of the satellite. Before the implementation of the ground station, analyses related to environmental factors have to be considered, especially in urban areas. Rain effects, the impact of intermodulation products, and contact time duration at low elevation angles are some of the aspects that are considered in this work and which influence the final decisions on the design of the ground station. Measurements on the ground station based on Sun flux density are described, which provide an opportunity to check the performance of the ground station. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

天地一体化信息网络中天基卫星网络架构设计

为了充分利用各种空间设施资源,提升天基信息网络覆盖与传输能力,分别从天基信息网络体系架构和逻辑功能架构角度进行了系统性设计。与以往天基网络的设计不同,该设计更注重各类卫星网络的深度融合应用,为此将网络虚拟化技术引入天基卫星网络。同时,还提出了解决新架构下卫星组网难题的方法,将电磁涡旋、卫星灵活载荷和边缘计算技术设计到天基网络。仿真表明,所提出的架构能有效提升频谱利用率和减少卫星网络信令开销。     

On the impact of link layer retransmission schemes on TCP over 4G satellite links

We study the impact of reliability mechanisms introduced at the link layer on the performance of transport protocols in the context of 4G satellite links. Specifically, we design a software module that performs realistic analysis of the network performance, by utilizing real physical layer traces of a 4G satellite service. Based on these traces, our software module produces equivalent link layer traces, as a function of the chosen link layer reliability mechanism. We further utilize the link layer traces within the ns‐2 network simulator to evaluate the impact of link layer schemes on the performance of selected Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) variants. We consider erasure coding, selective‐repeat automatic request (ARQ) and hybrid‐ARQ link layer mechanisms, and TCP Cubic, Compound, Hybla, New Reno and Westwood. We show that, for all target TCP variants, when the throughput of the transport protocol is close to the channel capacity, using the ARQ mechanism is most beneficial for TCP performance improvement. In conditions where the physical channel error rate is high, hybrid‐ARQ results in the best performance for all TCP variants considered, with up to 22% improvements compared to other schemes. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Estimation of the error performance objectives for satellite communication systems

We consider the physical layer error performance parameters and design criteria for digital satellite systems established by ITU‐R Recommendation S.1062, where the performance objectives are given in terms of the bit error rate (BER) divided by the average number of errors within a cluster. It is well known that errors on satellite links employing forward error correction (FEC) schemes tend to occur in clusters. The resulting block error rate is the same as if it was caused by randomly occurring bit errors with an error‐event ratio of BER/α, where α is the average number of errors within a cluster. The factor, α, accounts for the burstiness of the errors and also represents the ratio between the BER and the error‐event ratio. This paper proposes theoretical methods to estimate the factor, α. Using the weight distributions of the FEC codes, we derive a set of expressions for the factor, α, as well as their compact lower bounds. We present lower bounds for various FEC schemes including binary BCH codes, block turbo codes, convolutional codes, and turbo codes. The simulation results show that the proposed lower bounds are good estimates in the high signal‐to‐noise ratio region. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

面向移动网络环境的智能协同蜜网设计与性能分析

在移动网络环境下,因各移动蜜罐资源有限、攻击注入手段灵活多变,需要动态部署蜜网以协同地检测攻击行为特征。然而现有蜜网易遭受特征识别攻击、网内恶意流量肆意传播、不能跨蜜罐迁移连接。为此,基于软件定义网络（software defined networking,SDN）技术,设计了一种智能协同蜜网（intelligent and collaborative Honeynet,ic-Honeynet）系统。它由逆向连接代理模块和蜜网控制器组成,它的优势在于逐一克服了上述3个缺陷。最后,搭建了一个ic-Honeynet实验环境,并验证了该系统的有效性。实验结果表明：该系统吞吐量近乎线速,高达8.23 Gbit/s;响应时延额外增加很小,仅在0.5～1.2 ms区间变化;连接处理能力也很强,可高达1 473个连接/s。     

Delayed duplicate acknowledgements: a TCP‐Unaware approach to improve performance of TCP over wireless

Since a TCP sender cannot distinguish between packet losses arising from transmission errors from those due to congestion, TCP tends to perform poorly on wireless links that are prone to transmission errors. Several techniques have previously been proposed to improve TCP performance over wireless links. Existing schemes typically require an intermediate node (typically, a base station) to be TCP‐aware. For instance, the Snoop scheme requires the base station to interpret TCP headers and take appropriate action to help improve TCP performance. This paper proposes an alternative TCP‐unaware technique that attempts to mimic the behavior of the Snoop protocol. Performance evaluation shows that the proposed Delayed Dupacks scheme performs quite well. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.