VIRTUAL PRIVATE NETWORKS OVER SATELLITE COMMUNICATION SYSTEMS IN SUPPORT OF SECURE TELEMEDICAL COMMUNICATION IN EXPEDITIONARY ENVIRONMENTS
Loading...
Authors
Cohen, Joshua G.
Subjects
VPN
satellite networks
network
router
base station
communication
IPsec
Wireguard
OpenVPN
iperf
Starlink
Viasat
telemedicine
satellite networks
network
router
base station
communication
IPsec
Wireguard
OpenVPN
iperf
Starlink
Viasat
telemedicine
Advisors
McEachen, John C.
Tummala, Murali
Date of Issue
2025-03
Date
Publisher
Monterey, CA; Naval Postgraduate School
Language
Abstract
While the U.S. military continues to deploy around the world, the need for medical support in austere environments remains. The ability to effectively fulfill this need is augmented by the use of telemedical support. The ability to effectively provide telemedical assistance from afar requires the use of satellite communications and often resorts to civilian service providers. This thesis evaluates the efficacy of using satellite networks with the added security and privacy of virtual private networks (VPNs). We evaluate the performance impact of internet protocol security (IPsec), OpenVPN, and Wireguard when applied over a geostationary satellite provider, Viasat, and a low Earth orbit satellite provider, Starlink. We find that the implementation of VPNs induces a small but consistent performance impact on latency and a negligible impact on Inter-Packet Delay Variation. The implementation of a VPN results in a reduction in throughput, especially in download throughput. We specifically find that OpenVPN has the largest impact on throughput with Wireguard providing the highest overall throughput. IPsec is the most consistently performing VPN and is our recommendation for enterprise applications.
Type
Thesis
Description
Series/Report No
Organization
Identifiers
NPS Report Number
Sponsors
Air Force Research Laboratory, Wright-Patterson AFB, OH, 45433Air Force Research Laboratory, Wright-Patterson AFB, OH, 45433
Funding
Format
Citation
Distribution Statement
Distribution Statement A. Approved for public release: Distribution is unlimited.
Rights
This publication is a work of the U.S. Government as defined in Title 17, United States Code, Section 101. Copyright protection is not available for this work in the United States.