Research at Karlstad University speeds up the internet
2016-03-03A few years ago, Per Hurtig, researcher at Karlstad University, submitted a standardisation proposal to speed up the internet to the IETF (Internet Engineering Task Force)*. Now, in 2016, the standard is finished.
Standardising internet mechanisms is a long process and since the first proposal of the optimisation RTOR (RTO Restart) was submitted, it has been evaluated and refined by the IETF “TCP Maintenance and Minor Extensions” working group. This work has lasted for six years and generated 15 versions of the document before the standard was finally set.
User gains
An evaluation, published in 2015, shows that RTOR can offer considerable benefits in the communication between a a user and a server.
“RTOR reduces the delay occurring when there is an error in the communication between a user’s computer and a server, which is a frequent problem that may degrade a users’ experience,” says Per Hurtig, associate senior lecturer in Computer Science.
When mechanisms have been standardised by IETF, they are usually implemented in the most common operative systems such as Linux, and thus benefit many users.
“We are really happy that our research can be utilised and contribute to making daily life easier for people. Hopefully, this will mean less time spent waiting for websites that never finish “loading”.
For several years, Computer Science at Karlstad University has been working on optimisations to improve the performance that regular users experience when using internet-based applications. The project RTOR is part of these efforts.
*Internet Engineering Task Force is the organisation that standardises all technologies that software and operative systems use to communicate over the internet.
Standard (RFC 7765): http://dx.doi.org/10.17487/RFC7765
Publication: http://dx.doi.org/10.1145/2717646.2717648