TraSH-SN: A Transport Layer Seamless Handoff Scheme for Space Networks

The Internet Engineering Task Force has developed Mobile IP to handle mobility of Internet hosts at the network layer. Spacecrafts in space are analogous to mobile nodes in the terrestrial network. NASA has been experimenting with Mobile IP to handle handoffs in space networks. Mobile IP, however, suffers from a number of drawbacks such as high handoff latency, packet loss, and interoperability issues with network security solutions. In this paper, we describe TraSH-SN, a new Transport Layer Seamless Handover scheme for Space Networks, to handle handoffs in space networks. TraSH-SN utilizes multi-homing to achieve a seamless handoff of a spacecraft, and is designed to solve many of the drawbacks of Mobile IP. Various aspects, such as handoff, signalling, location management, data transfer, and security considerations of TraSH-SN are discussed, and its application to space networks is also outlined.