DTN Licklider transmission protocol over asymmetric space channels

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has been working toward space Internet and Interplanetary Internet (IPN) using appropriate network architecture and protocols [1]. As the widely deployed network protocol suite, the Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) has been very successful in today's Internet operations. But TCP experiences severe performance degradation in space communications mainly because of the vast differences between terrestrial and space operating environments [2]. Although the feasibility of operating space communications using the Internet type of protocols has been a source of contention within NASA [1], a large number of alternative transmission control protocols and algorithms have been developed for space and other environments with similar communication conditions [2]-[8]. In [9], Wang et al. provides a comprehensive and comparative discussion for some of these protocols.