Analysis and Performance Evaluation of a Burst-Based TCP for Satellite DVB RCS Links

ESA Satlabs proposed a splitting architecture, named Interoperable-Performance Enhancing Proxy (I-PEP), which defines a protocol stack for the edges of a Digital Video Broadcasting-Return Channal over Satellite (DVB-RCS) link with the aim of improving performance of Transmission Control Protocol (TCP)-based applications. At the transport layer of I-PEPs, the Space Communications Protocols Standards-Transport Protocol (SCPS-TP) provides a reliable connection to upper layers, although resulting in very poor performance in tests. In fact, standard congestion-control mechanisms under-perform mainly due to long latency and Demand Assignment Multiple Access (DAMA) access schemes, especially in the case of short transfers, as for Web traffic, when optimum window may not be reached. In this paper, a burst-based TCP, named TCP Noordwijk (TCPN), is introduced to improve on these aspects. To evaluate performance, the protocol has been implemented on the Network Simulator NS-2. Definitively, details on the protocol design, implementation, and a vast gamut of results coming from simulations are reported.