Unicast and multicast IP error performance over an ATM satellite link

IP multicast using ATM-based satellites provides the potential to support m ultimedia applications, including audio/video streaming and information dis tribution, at a large scale. This letter considers the impact of satellite channel errors, and equations are derived for the probability of IP datagra m loss in the presence of burst errors on the satellite link. When there ar e a large number of multicast receivers per spotbeam there is a significant probability that one or more recipients will not receive the data, and thi s has implications particularly for the design of reliable multicast networ k protocols.