Distributed concurrent downloading of common content in a BitTorrent peer group

In the BitTorrent peer-to-peer file sharing protocol, it is observed that when a group of peers known to each other (due to geographical proximity or otherwise) are aiming for the same file, it is downloaded by a single peer and then shared within the group or it is downloaded individually. This is an inefficient approach as the fidelity rests on one peer or all peers (promoting redundancy), thus resulting in wastage of bandwidth and time. In this paper, we propose a solution to counter these problems by encouraging equal participation of the peer group in the download process. We show how the bandwidth of each peer is utilized to the maximum (thus reducing download time) by segregating a file into smaller sized parts with each peer downloading a part of the file in parallel and then merging the individual parts to form the complete data. We also add to the above proposition how one peer can effectively resume the interrupted download of another peer, remotely. Using simulation, we validate and demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed strategy by taking real world examples showing large amounts of data being transferred at massive speeds and in a very short period of time.