Performance Evaluation of TCP Splitting Over Satellite

Abstract

In this chapter we evaluate the performance of using TCP spoofing/splitting over satellite via a model-based study and a measurement-based study. Through analysis based on a few mathematical models we attempt to develop a basic understanding of the properties of TCP dynamics when connection spoofing is used, and further identify conditions under which using spoofing provides significant or marginal performance gain. Our measurement results are obtained from a commercial direct broadcast satellite system that uses TCP splitting at the network operating center (NOC). In particular these results show the performance of TCP splitting in combination with web caching. In both the model-based and the measurement-based studies we explore the effect of various factors including file size, congestion, and connection asymmetry. We use results and analysis from our models to better explain observations from the measurement. Finally we discuss the implications our findings and conclusions have on the design, deployment and provisioning of systems using TCP spoofing/splitting.