# Presentation: 198798

## A Brief History of Satellite / Terrestrial Network Interoperability Studies

- David R. Beering
- Principal
- Infinite Global Infrastructures, LLC
- drbeering@igillc.com
- +1 630-665-1396

## Starting Points

- In the Fall 1993 NASA Launched the Advanced Communications Technology Satellite (ACTS), which spawned the most successful satellite-centric experiments program in history
- At that time a large portion of the US Petroleum Industry was studying the marriage high-performance networking and computing. This work became active through a National-Scale operational networking testbed called the ATM Research & Industrial Enterprise Study, or ARIES
- In late 1994, the ARIES team and the ACTS team discovered each other and started a series of joint investigations aimed at developing a deeper understanding of the interaction of high performance ground networks and high performance satellite links
- Early work involved very basic ‘discovery’ experiments (what happens when I plug this ATM switch into the satellite terminal ... or this supercomputer ... or this ... ??)

## First Experiments With TCP/IP over Satellite

- One of the first things we discovered in the early tests using ACTS was the inadequacy of TCP/IP performance due to window scaling limitations that were inherent in the TCP/IP standard
- The problem was pretty evident, given that the TCP window size limitation of 64 Kbytes limited throughput to about 500 Kbps – not very acceptable, given that the High Data Rate (HDR) satellite links on ACTS operated at 155 Mbps in those days
- Early work was underway within the IETF to develop new standardized ways of improving TCP/IP performance (RFC 1323 *TCP Extended Windows*, RFC 2018 *TCP Selective Acknowledgement*)
- The ARIES team and NASA teamed to work on this problem during 1995 and 1996. Early work focused exclusively on Sun Microsystems’ *Solaris* operating system

## HDR Performance Focus

- In 1997, NASA Glenn engaged the 622 Mbps ACTS HDR capability
- During 1997 and 1998, the ACTS 118i and 118j experiments further worked TCP/IP performance capabilities on Solaris and demonstrated end-to-end performance of 520 Mbps (single-stream) host-to-host TCP performance
- Also developed during 118j was a tape transfer tool that provided reliable transfer of data between high-performance Ampex tape archives at speeds up to 160 Mbps

## End-to-end Demonstration Network for SuperComputing ‘97

- NASA
- Advanced Communications
- Technology Satellite

- FORE
- ASX
- 1000

- SUN
- Ultra 2

- OC-12
- SONET

- 622
- ATM
- MM

- FWD/SCSI

- Ampex
- DST812
- w/
- Four
- Drives

- FORE
- ASX
- 1000

- SUN
- Ultra 2

- 622
- ATM
- SM

- 622
- ATM
- MM

- FWD/SCSI

- Ampex
- DIS120

- 622 Mbps
- Link

- San Jose
- Convention Center

- NASA
- Glenn Research Center
- Cleveland, Ohio

- SUN
- Ultra 2

- FWD/SCSI

- Ampex
- DIS120

- SUN
- Ultra 2

- FWD/SCSI

- Ampex
- DIS120

- SUN
- Ultra 2

- FWD/SCSI

- Ampex
- DIS120

- SUN
- Ultra 2

- SUN
- Ultra 2

- SUN
- Ultra 2

- FWD/SCSI

- FWD/SCSI

- FWD/SCSI

**N**
**T**
**O**
**N**

- OC-12
- SONET

- Lawrence Livermore
- National Laboratory

**520 Mbps TCP/IP**
**Single Stream**
**User Data Rate**
**Solaris 7**

## High-Speed Magnetic Tape Transfer Application

- NASA
- Advanced Communications
- Technology Satellite

- ATM
- Switch

- SUN
- Ultra 2

- 622
- ATM
- SM

- 622
- ATM
- MM

- FWD/SCSI

- Ampex
- DIS160

- ATM
- Switch

- SUN
- Ultra 2

- 622
- ATM
- SM

- 622
- ATM
- MM

- FWD/SCSI

- Ampex
- DIS120

- 622 Mbps
- Link

- Sprint
- Advanced Technology Lab
- Burlingame, CA

- NASA Glenn
-  Research Center
- Cleveland, Ohio

- 160 Mbps
- Single-Stream
- User Data Rate

## Extension of Early TCP/IP Work to Encompass Multiple Computing Platforms and Operating Systems

- After the dramatic success of the first 622 Mbps experiment suite, the next step was to extend participation beyond Fore Systems and Sun Microsystems
- Experiment 118x was born
- Four participating segments – a true consortium
- Government Laboratories
- NASA Glenn Research Center
- NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
- NASA Johnson Space Center
- Jet Propulsion Laboratory
- US Naval Research Laboratory
- Commercial Satellite Industry
- Hughes Space & Communications
- Space Systems Loral
- Spectrum Astro
- Lockheed Martin

-  Computing / Operating Systems
-    Sun Microsystems
-    Compaq Computer Corporation
-    Hewlett-Packard
-    Intel
-    Microsoft
-    IBM
-   Communications / Network Hardware
-    Fore Systems / Marconi
-    Cisco Systems
-    Raytheon Telecommunications
-    Cabletron Systems

## Expt. 118x / 154 End-to-end Network Layout

- NASA
- Advanced Communications
- Technology Satellite

- ATM
- Switch

- Sun
- Sun

- OC-3  PoS
- OC-12 ATM

- 622 or 155
- ATM
- MM

- ATM
- Switch

- Sun
- Sun

- 622 or 155
- ATM
- MM

- Ultra SCSI

- Ampex
- DIS-160

- 622 Mbps
- Satellite Link

- Lockheed Martin Space Operations
- CSOC Integration Center
- Houston TX

- NASA
- Glenn Research Center
- Cleveland, Ohio

- DEC
- Compaq

- Microsoft
- Intel

- IBM
- IBM

- DEC
- Compaq

- Microsoft
- Intel

- IBM
- IBM

- ATM Switch		FORE ASX-1200
- Gigabit Ethernet Hub	FORE ESX-2400
- Router		Cisco 7507

- OC-3 PoS
- OC-12 ATM

- Gig E
- Hub

- Gig E
- Hub

- Gigabit
- Enet

- Gigabit
- Enet

- OS
- HW

**LEGEND**

- Operating System

- Hardware Platform

- Router

- Router

- HP
- HP

- HP
- HP

## Current Post-154 Testbed at US Naval Research Laboratory

*Digital Ball of Clay*
- Testing of mechanisms to help TCP/IP distinguish between end-to-end losses due to errors vs. losses due to congestion
- TCP Peach
- Space Communications Protocol Standard (SCPS)
- Explicit Congestion Notification (ECN)
- Standard TCP/IP baselines
- Others (TBD)
- Adaptive Uplink Power Control
- IP performance and efficiency over various transports, including HDLC, ATM, DVB
- Spacecraft Direct-to-Ground TCP/IP Asymmetry evaluations
- Multiple Access Mechanisms (CDMA, DAMA)
- Consortium sports the same cast of players, with some important additions (Including NREN)

## D4 TCP Asymmetry Experiment Equipment LayoutSimulating Uplink From Ground Through GEO Relay

- D4 TCP Asymmetry Experiment Equipment LayoutSimulating Uplink From Ground Through GEO Relay

- Telstar 11

- Marconi
- ASX-200
- ATM Sw.

- RS-449

- Up to 8 Mbps
- Satellite Link

- 1.2 Meter
- Ku-Band Terminal

- 3.7 Meter
- Ku-Band Terminal

- Comsat
- CLA
- 2000

- Comsat
- CLA
- 2000

- 155 Mbps
- ATM

- 155 Mbps
- ATM

- Comstream
- CM701
- Modem

- Comstream
- CM701
- Modem

- RS-449

- Sun
- Ultra1

- Sun
- Ultra1

- DS-3 ATM

- DS-3 ATM

- RS-232

- RS-232

- NRL Internet Connection

- 10M
- Ethernet

- 10M
- Ethernet

- Marconi
- ASX-200
- ATM Sw.

- Adtech SX-14
- Delay
- Simulator

- 155 Mbps
- ATM

- 155 Mbps
- ATM

- Fixed, GEO Delay (260 ms)
- Variable Delay (30ms – 1000 ms)