A Secure Splitting and Acceleration Strategy for TCP/QUIC in Interplanetary Networks

Abstract: Interplanetary networks (IPNs) present unique challenges such as extreme delay, high loss, and frequent disruptions that severely degrade the performance of conventional transport protocols like Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) and Quick UDP Internet Connection (QUIC). To address these issues, we propose a secure transport acceleration strategy tailored for IPNs. This strategy is founded on our Non-Transparent Secure Proxy (NTSP) architecture, which enables connection splitting for end-to-end encrypted flows while preserving application layer security. Based on the NTSP, we design an IPN-aware transport policy that combines (i) a rate-based congestion control algorithm exploiting the pre-scheduled nature of deep-space links to achieve stable and efficient bandwidth utilization, and (ii) an adaptive packet-level forward error correction scheme to provide low-latency loss recovery without retransmissions. Furthermore, we introduce a theoretically grounded backpressure flow control mechanism, deriving an analytical model for optimal buffer sizing to mitigate rate mismatch and prevent bufferbloat. The strategy is implemented in a prototype system, PEPspace, and evaluated in representative Earth-Moon scenarios. Results show near-capacity and stable goodput and substantially improved delivery performance compared with TCP/QUIC variants and existing Performance Enhancing Proxies, while maintaining low latency and robust data delivery across intermittent links. The NTSP architecture is further discussed as a foundational framework for future unified IP/DTN architectures, bridging a key architectural gap in heterogeneous space networks.