Data Transport for the Orbiting Internet

Abstract

In this paper, we introduce Orbiting TCP (OrbTCP), a multipath data transport protocol for Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellite networks. OrbTCP utilises in-network telemetry (INT) to obtain per-hop congestion information for each of its active subflows running on edge-disjoint paths. OrbTCP (1) enables network operation with low buffer capacity and low latency for end-hosts, (2) maximises application throughput and network utilisation, and (3) swiftly reacts to network hotspots due to bursty traffic or path reconfiguration. We present early results showcasing the limitations of state-of-the-art data transport in LEO satellite networks, motivate the need for a novel data transport protocol and offer initial evidence that OrbTCP could overcome the identified limitations.