An evaluation of the network efficiency required in order to support multicast and synchronous distributed learning network traffic

Abstract

The United States military has had and will continue to have a legacy of comparatively short tours and long deployments in locations where the availability of all forms of education and training may be limited. This not only limits the potential of military members but can have a detrimental effect on moral and retention. Distributed Learning is one way to combat this ever increasing dilemma. With the proliferation of computer technology and Internet access throughout the Department of Defense (DoD), Distributed Learning can put education and training at the finger tips of most military members. It can even bring education to the field limited only by the networks, data delivery methods, and bandwidth provided military units. This thesis examines the network requirements needed to provide a good quality of service (QoS) to sailors and solders, and provides guidelines for implementing Distributed Learning over multicast on DoD networks. Multicast is a very efficient method of delivering data to multiple recipients and is the underlying technology which can allow interactive Distributed Learning. It is therefore the primary focus of this thesis.