Efficient delivery of IP multicast over interactive satellite networks

• Main Author: Ninan, Nikhil George
• Published: University of Aberdeen 2013
• Subjects: 620; Multicasting (Computer networks)
• Online Access: http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.619170

Modern networks are a reliable and effective medium for moving large volumes of data, however when considering the exponential growth of content, bandwidth and server availability is a finite resource. In many cases, the same content is being sent to multiple users, each consuming resources. Multicast offers scaling, that allows groups of users to receive common content at little extra network cost. While multicast deployment has been slow in terrestrial networks, the multicast service is ideally suited to IP-based broadband satellite networks. Despite this, many current broadband satellite systems do not provide any or limited support for IP multicast services. This thesis seeks to change this and identifies the protocols required to introduce support for IP multicast in broadband satellite systems. It examines the protocols required, with a focus on IP multicast routing using the Protocol Independent Multicast – Sparse Mode (PIM-SM) routing protocol. The robustness and overhead of the protocol are analyzed. This thesis proposes a set of architectures for the efficient delivery of IP multicast over an interactive satellite network. This thesis considers the key functions required to realize end-to-end IP multicast using the emergent 2nd Generation Digital Video Broadcast Return Link via Satellite (DVB-RCS2) specification. It also considers the differences between DVB-RCS2 and a mobile broadband satellite system and proposes appropriate methods for both use-cases. This facilitates merging satellite access networks with a multicast-enabled Internet backbone, enabling delivery of native IP multicast services to networks connected to a satellite terminal. The return link in a two-way broadband satellite network is often considered an expensive resource, which motivates the efficient use of this resource. This thesis therefore examines the applicability of header compression for a satellite system and proposes the use of Robust Header Compression (ROHC) to improve link efficiency.