Enhanced Throughput for Satellite Multicasting

Abstract

Faithful information delivery in satellite multicasting requires appropriate error control. If multicast automatic-repeat-request (ARQ)is employed, a retransmission does not benefit receivers which do notrequire it, and consequently the throughput suffers greatly as thenumber of receivers increases. This performance degradation might bealleviated substantially by conducting retransmissions through terrestrialpaths from the transmitter to each receiver instead of through themulticast satellite link. By sending a retransmission directly to thereceiver(s) which requires it, higher throughput can be provided in sucha hybrid network than in a pure-satellite network. In this work,we examine the throughput improvement provided by the hybrid network.The research and scientific content in this material hasbeen accepted for presentation at the International Mobile SatelliteConference, Ottawa, June 16-18, 1999.