TCP Over Satellite (tcpsat)
---------------------------

 Charter
 Last Modified: 06/02/2000

 Current Status: Concluded Working Group

 Chair(s):
     Aaron Falk  <falk@isi.edu>

 Transport Area Director(s):
     Scott Bradner  <sob@harvard.edu>
     Allison Mankin  <mankin@isi.edu>

 Transport Area Advisor:
     Allison Mankin  <mankin@isi.edu>

 Mailing Lists: 
     General Discussion:tcpsat@grc.nasa.gov
     To Subscribe:      majordomo@grc.nasa.gov
         In Body:       subscribe tcpsat your_email_address
     Archive:           http://tcpsat.grc.nasa.gov/tcpsat/mail.html

Description of Working Group:

Satellites are being used to extend the Global Internet geographically
and will be more ubiquitous in the next decade with the deployment of
several proposed services capable of providing greater than T1 access
to individual users anywhere in the world.

Yet, satellite links have a unique combination of characteristics that
can affect the throughput of TCP traffic. Because of the high-bandwidth
delay product, slow start and congestion control algorithms behave much
differently when the path includes a satellite link than exclusively
terrestrial ones.


The TCP over Satellite Working Group shall produce an informational RFC
which describes the issues affecting TCP throughput over satellite
links. It identifies the domains in which each issue applies, including
network topology, satellite orbit (LEO, MEO, GEO), and link rates;
fixes, both protocol and implementation, that ameliorate reduced
throughput; and areas for further research. The purpose of including
this information is to direct the research community to the areas in
which show promise, not to perform the research or even advocate the
results.

Scope:

The scope of this working group will include consideration of the
following for inclusion in the Informational RFC:

 o Transport layer issues affecting TCP over
   satellite links
 o Existing TCP options
 o Compliant implementations which have some known
   improved performance over satellite links
 o Recommendation of well understood protocol changes
 o Identification of protocol changes that are potentially promising
   but require more further investigation in order to be well understood

SECURITY

The working group will consider in depth security issues that are
relevant, describing risks and indicating how they may be addressed.

 Goals and Milestones:

   JUL 97       Post first Internet-Draft. 

   AUG 97       Meet at Munich IETF to review Internet-Draft. 

   DEC 97       Meet at DC IETF tyo achieve consensus on final version of 
                Internet-Draft. 

   JAN 98       Submit Internet-Draft to IESG for consideration as an 
                Informational RFC. 


 Internet-Drafts:

  No Current Internet-Drafts.

 Request For Comments:

  RFC   Stat Published     Title
------- -- ----------- ------------------------------------
RFC2488BCP  JAN 99    Enhancing TCP Over Satellite Channels using Standard 
                       Mechanisms 

RFC2760 I    FEB 00    Ongoing TCP Research Related to Satellites