Achieving QoS for TCP Traffic in Satellite Networks with Differentiated Services

TL;DR

This paper proposes a QoS model for satellite networks to improve TCP traffic management, analyzing the impact of various factors on performance in mixed TCP/UDP environments through simulations.

Contribution

Introduces a broadband satellite network QoS model and evaluates TCP flow performance in mixed traffic conditions using factorial experiment methodology.

Findings

TCP performance is affected by multiple factors in satellite networks.

Mixed TCP/UDP environments require specific traffic management strategies.

Simulation results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed QoS model.

Abstract

Satellite networks play an indispensable role in providing global Internet access and electronic connectivity. To achieve such a global communications, provisioning of quality of service (QoS) within the advanced satellite systems is the main requirement. One of the key mechanisms of implementing the quality of service is traffic management. Traffic management becomes a crucial factor in the case of satellite network because of the limited availability of their resources. Currently, Internet Protocol (IP) only has minimal traffic management capabilities and provides best effort services. In this paper, we present broadband satellite network QoS model and simulated performance results. In particular, we discuss the TCP flow aggregates performance for their good behavior in the presence of competing UDP flow aggregates in the same assured forwarding. We identify several factors that affect the performance in the mixed environments and quantify their effects using a full factorial design of experiment methodology.