Impacts of the startup behavior of multilayered multicast congestion control protocols on the performance of content delivery protocols

The FLUTE file delivery application (RFC 3926) and the underlying massively scalable reliable multicast protocol, ALC (RFC 3450), are used for the scalable distribution of contents in a broadcasting system having no feedback channel. When used in a routed network (like the Internet), a layered congestion control protocol is required. This paper analyzes the impacts of the startup behavior of several such protocols on the performance of multicast content delivery protocols through mathematical models. Our results show: (1) that these congestion control protocols have a major impact on the download time; and (2) that the three protocols considered in this study yield significant differences.