Reliable and User Friendly Low Bandwidth Web Surfing

Abstract

In remote locations, internet access can be enabled using satellite connections, such as the Iridium Satellite Network. The Iridium GO! device provides a bandwidth of 2.4 kbit/s. On such a low bandwidth it would take hours to download most modern websites. In 2018, a prototype which enables general web browsing on a low bandwidth was developed at Charmers. The prototype acts as a proof of concept for the use of a performance enhancing proxy server to extract data in order to reduce content size and achieve viable loading times. The 2019 prototype replaces components of the 2018 iteration, providing a faster and more reliable service. In particular, no excess data is being sent and the delay caused by compression and data extraction is notably shorter, resulting in a 66% reduction on average to the time between sending a request and the moment the first content arrives to the client.