The Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) relies on frequent acknowledgements to drive the progress of transmissions. This approach works well in well-connected networks with connections that exhibit relatively low latency, however, it suffers when the connection between nodes is disrupted regularly or experiences significantly high latency. Delay-tolerant networking attempts to address this issue by introducing concepts such as data mules and schedules into communications. The QUIC protocol has been proposed as a possible generic replacement for TCP but does not explicitly target delay-tolerant communication. This project will investigate the suitability of QUIC for delay-tolerant networking and how to exploit the current structures of QUIC.
Learning Outcome: In-depth understanding of transport protocols that form the underlying foundation of today’s communication and the challenges that today’s mobile devices and applications pose to communication mechanisms that were conceive 50 years ago.