Impact of Satellite Technology on Transmission Protocols

Satellite links offer interesting possibilities : broadcasting and very high data-rate. However, they also have a long propagation delay, and “not very well known” error rate characteristics.Theoretical studies and simulations have shown that “classic” protocols like HDLC are not convenient for high speed transmission through a satellite link. They have very large CPU load and buffering requirements, while having, under some circumstances, a poor efficiency.Guidelines for the design of protocols adapted to this communication media are then presented.