A dynamic cross-layer control strategy for resource partitioning in a rain faded satellite channel with long-lived TCP connections

The paper aims at devising a control system for dynamic resource allocation ina packet-oriented satellite network. The traffic to be served is represented by TCP long-lived connections (elephants). A Master Station adaptively assignsbandwidth and transmission parameters (bit and coding rate) to TCP buffers at the earth stations, grouping connections characterized by the same source-destination pair. The assignment is effected according to each pair's traffic load and fading conditions, in order to reach a common goal. The latter mayconsist of maximizing the overall TCP goodput, of equalizing the connections' goodput for global fairness, or a combination thereof. Three differentallocation strategies are devised, and their respective performance is compared, under a realistic link budget.