Using SPDY to improve Web 2.0 over satellite links

During the last decade, the Web has grown in terms of complexity, while the evolution of the HTTP (Hypertext Transfer Protocol) has not experienced the same trend. Even if HTTP 1.1 adds improvements like persistent connections and request pipelining, they are not decisive, especially in modern mixed wireless/wired networks, often including satellites. The latter play a key role for accessing the Internet everywhere, and they are one of the preferred methods to provide connectivity in rural areas or for disaster relief operations. However, they suffer of high-latency and packet losses, which degrade the browsing experience. Consequently, the investigation of protocols mitigating the limitations of HTTP, also in challenging scenarios, is crucial both for the industry and the academia. In this perspective, SPDY, which is a protocol optimized for the access to Web 2.0 contents over fixed and mobile devices, could be suitable also for satellite links. Therefore, this paper evaluates its performance when used both in real and emulated satellite scenarios. Results indicate the effectiveness of SPDY if compared with HTTP, but at the price of a more fragile behavior when in the presence of errors. Besides, SPDY can also reduce the transport overhead experienced by middleboxes typically deployed by service providers using satellite links.