SAT-RMTP: a protocol for reliable multicast content distribution via VSAT
Gorry Fairhurst · 2005
This paper introduces the topic of satellite content distribution and describes key design issues in defining a reliable multicast transport protocol. It focuses on delivery of cached multimedia. To reliably send such archives requires a transport protocol able to detect and recover from packet loss (within the client/server, the LAN links and satellite portion of the network). The satellite reliable multicast transport protocol (SAT-RMTP) is one such protocol that was developed by the University of Aberdeen under the EC IST GEOCAST project. The protocol has been optimised for a GEO satellite network supporting IPv4 multicast. The key features include scalable and efficient bulk data transfer over asymmetric links and the use of combined hybrid ARQ and packet FEC for reliability. Using examples drawn from a prototype network constructed by the EC content delivery improvement by satellite (CODIS) project, the paper describes how this protocol provided a content delivery solution and identifies key issues that will need to be addressed to provide reliable transfer over a satellite network.