C A L L F O R P A R T I C I P A T I O N
Study of Mechanisms and Algorithms for TCP/IP Explicit Corruption
Notification
NASA Glenn Research Center at Lewis Field
Background:
For the past three years a group of researchers, along with a large group of
partner organizations from industry and government laboratories, have been
engaged in a multi-platform TCP/IP performance experiment using NASA's
Advanced Communications Technology Satellite (ACTS). This experiment,
currently known as ACTS Experiment 154, has focused on TCP/IP performance
optimization over the ACTS Geostationary satellite at data rates of 155Mbps
and 622Mbps. As a result of extensive FEC, these channels typically operate
error-free, providing an ideal environment for TCP performance testing. More
information on the experiment is provided below:
Purpose:
Testing of TCP/IP performance and interoperability using NASA's Advanced
Communications Technology Satellite (ACTS). Testing is conducted in
homogeneous host configurations (i.e. Sun-to-Sun) and in heterogeneous host
configurations (i.e. Sun to IBM).
Primary experiment Components:
1. Single-stream TCP/IP performance testing over satellite channels with
bandwidth-delay products of up to 70 MBytes
2. Research and development / discovery of new techniques to help TCP
distinguish between channel corruption and congestion
Technical Environment:
Workstation interfaces (LAN):
- 100BaseT
- Gigabit Ethernet
- ATM (155 Mbps and 622 Mbps)
Satellite Channel:
- 1 x 155 Mbps SONET
- 2 x 155 Mbps SONET
- 1 x 622 Mbps SONET
WAN Interfaces:
- 155 Mbps ATM
- 622 Mbps ATM
- 155 Mbps PoS
- 622 Mbps PoS
The 154 Experiment Consortium presently includes the following participants:
NASA Glenn Research Center
NASA Johnson Space Center
NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
US Naval Research Laboratory
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
Marconi Communications
Cisco Systems
Ampex Data Systems
Cabletron Systems
Raytheon Telecommunications
Spectrum Astro
Lockheed Martin
Space Systems / Loral
Hughes Space & Communications
Sun Microsystems
Intel
Microsoft
Compaq
IBM
Hewlett-Packard
NetManage
WindRiver Systems
More information:
For more information on the experiment, including some historical TCP
performance test results, please visit our public web site, located at the
URL below:
http://mrpink.grc.nasa.gov/118x
The Opportunity:
Our team is in the process of building a new testbed facility that will
support links across the ACTS spacecraft at data rates ranging up to 8 Mbps,
with any bit error rate. The testbed will utilize laboratories at the NASA
Glenn Research Center in Cleveland, the US Naval Research Laboratory in
Washington, DC, and Lockheed Martin Space Operations in Houston. We will
also be able to leverage the unique ability of ACTS to support satellite
links operating at extremely high rates (155Mbps, 622Mbps) for this work,
should that be desirable in the context of these tests.
The focus of the new laboratory capability will be to specifically study
mechanisms that provide explicit notification of link corruption and
congestion, with the goal of gaining a better understanding of these
mechanisms in order to promote further work on the most promising
mechanisms. The eventual goal of this work is the make it possible for
Explicit Corruption Nofitication mechanisms to be safe for implementation in
the Internet at-large. This work is expected to continue beyond the end of
life of the ACTS spacecraft, presently slated for the end of June, 2000.
We are soliciting participation from the Internet community through personal
invitations, and through this announcement being distributed via the IETF's
'tcpsat', 'pilc', and 'end2end' interest groups. We are in the process of
assembling the workstations and networking hardware to support this
experiment. This initially will include Unix workstations supporting Solaris
7, and PC platforms supporting Linux. Other platforms and operating system
environments will be added depending on requirements. Experiment proposals
will be evaluated by our team for their ability to be integrated into and
tested in our environment. For those mechanisms selected for testing, we
will provide access to the hardware platforms (in-person and/or remote), and
satellite time on the ACTS spacecraft for testing and evaluation of the
mechanisms.
If your organization is involved in the development of algorithms or
mechanisms in the area of explicit corruption notification, and you would be
interested to participate in this experiment, please contact our team at one
of the contact coordinates below:
David R. Beering
Experiment 154 Coordinator
NASA Glenn Research Center
drbeering@sprynet.com
630-665-1396 (Office)
630-235-7965 (PCS)
or
Michael J. Zernic
ACTS HDR Experiment Manager
NASA Glenn Research Center
mzernic@grc.nasa.gov
216-433-5286 (Office)
or
Mark Solsman
United States Naval Research Laboratory
Information Technology Division
Satellite and Wireless Networking Section
solsman@nrl.navy.mil
202-404-4667 (Office)