Performance Evaluation of TCP Congestion Control Mechanisms over High-Speed Satellite Links

International Journal of Computer Science and Technology | Vol. 5, No. 13, Special Issue 2003 | pp. 97–104

DOI: 10.46882/2003/IJCST/000053

Article Type: Research Article

Title: Performance Evaluation of TCP Congestion Control Mechanisms over High-Speed Satellite Links

Names of Authors: Samuel Kwesi¹, Jean-Claude Mpasa²

Authors’ Affiliations: ¹Department of Computer Engineering, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, Ghana; ²Department of Computer Science, University of Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo

Abstract: Standard Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) congestion window mechanics suffer from severe performance degradation when operating across long-delay, asymmetric satellite internet channels. This study presents a comparative empirical evaluation of four network transport protocols—TCP Tahoe, Reno, NewReno, and Vegas—under simulated geostationary satellite conditions. Using an industrial network testbed with a round-trip time (RTT) setting of 540 ms, we measured throughput efficiency and packet loss adaptation trends. The experimental data revealed that TCP Vegas achieved a 16.5% higher link utilization rate than TCP Reno by using proactive queue delay monitoring instead of relying on packet drop events. Our mathematical validation model shows that implementing a selective acknowledgment mechanism (SACK) decreases retransmission overhead by 32.1%. These findings provide a clear guide for optimizing satellite broadband deployments in rural areas lacking wired telecommunications access networks.

Keywords: TCP Congestion Control, Satellite Networks, Transport Protocols, Throughput Optimization, Performance Evaluation

Manuscript Timeline: Received: September 05, 2003; Revised: November 02, 2003; Accepted: November 29, 2003; Published: December 28, 2003

Citation: Kwesi, S., & Mpasa, J.-C. (2003). Performance Evaluation of TCP Congestion Control Mechanisms over High-Speed Satellite Links. International Journal of Computer Science and Technology, 5(13), 97–104.

Subscribe to read the full article: https://www.internationalscholarsjournals.org/subscribe-to-read