![Professor Godred Fairhurst Professor Godred Fairhurst](/img/200x200/staffpages/uploads/eng174/me.jpg)
MIEEE
Personal Professor
- About
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- Email Address
- g.fairhurst@abdn.ac.uk
- Telephone Number
- +44 (0)1224 272201
- Office Address
Room 376, (top floor, East Wing), School of Engineering, Fraser Noble Building, Bedford Road, Aberdeen, AB24 3UE, United Kingdom
- School/Department
- School of Engineering
Biography
Gorry Fairhurst is an Internet Engineer and a Professor in Electrical and Electronic Engineering at the School of Engineering. He contributes to the School’s General Engineering programme of research-led teaching, and is the Academic Line Manager (ALM) where he coordinates the research across EEE staff.
He received his first degree in Applied Physics and Electronics from the University of Durham, UK, and a PhD in Communications Engineering from the University of Aberdeen, UK. He joined the University of Aberdeen academic staff after working with Prof. Tim Spracklen as a post-doctoral fellow with research in networking via satellite, funded by the UK Satellite Communications Centre, Defford, UK.
He has published more than 200 papers on topics in broadband and broadcast satellite, TV/video transmission, IPv6, IP multicast, X.25, together with work on Internet measurement, protocol architecture and Internet transport.
He is an active member of the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) where he chairs the Transport Area working group (TSVWG) and contributes to the IETF Internet area. He previously chaired the IPDVB and DCCP working groups. He has authored more than 32 RFCs with over 150 citations within the RFC-series. He is currently active in the TSVWG, TAPS, and TCPM working groups, as well as contributing to groups including: QUIC, PANRG, and MAPRG.
In previous years, he contributed to ETSI standardisation and the DVB Project, working on generic stream encapsulation and Higher Layer protocols for DVB-RCS2. He was a co-leader of the Future Internet working group in the EC ISI European Technology Platform, and a partner in European research projects funded by the EU, ESA, and industry.
- Research
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Research Overview
My current research interests focus on :
- Internet Engineering, where research includes analysis of control mechanisms for transport. link, and Internet protocols. A mixture of industry and science funding includes: rate-adaptive transport for multimedia, TCP and QUIC transport, Explicit Congestion Notification (ECN), Internet capacity sharing, and low-latency services.
- Internet Measurement and Protocol Design, which includes the specification of protocol architecture and large scale measurement campaign exploring Internet path characteristics.
- Satellite Internet, with a long track record of working on IP over satellite, and satellite broadband delivery and link standards for IP transmission over DVB. I participate in the Satellite Network of Excellence.
- Video transport, I engage in research on Internet TV, characterisation of DASH performance, and TV transport architecture. I retain a great anticipation for IP multicast deployment, and have been an enthusiastic advocate, user, and experimenter for multicast transport.
- Cross-disclipinary research including work with geographers, social scientists and other discplines on topics including broadband access, sensor network design, video streaming, and specific control communications.
Research Areas
Accepting PhDs
I am currently accepting PhDs in Engineering.
Please get in touch if you would like to discuss your research ideas further.
Research Specialisms
- Internet Technologies
- Computer Networks
- Space Technology
Our research specialisms are based on the Higher Education Classification of Subjects (HECoS) which is HESA open data, published under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International licence.
Current Research
I perform my research within the Electronics Group (ERG) in the School of Engineering at theUniversity of Aberdeen (UoA) is a part of the Electrical and Electronics Engineering Research Group. My research has favoured a blend of simulation/measurement and protocol design.
I have worked for many years with IPv4 and IPv6, especially over challenging links with research in the development of new protocols, implementation of link-specific enhancements, testing and assessment of network performance.
Current work includes IP transport protocols for QUIC, Internet Television (IPTV), TCP evolution, the use of ECN, use of DiffSev, and the support transport and services. Research includes implementation (in Linux/BSD), large-scale measurement and satellite services. This work is linked to standardisation in the IETF.
I have a long-running activity in multicast deployment (IPv4 and IPv6), working with projects on routing and multicast transport.
Work in satellite communications has a focus on the IP interface, with work on the GSE specification, IPv6 over satellite, transport protocol optimisation and DVB-RCS systems. and contributing to specifications published by the Digital Video Broadcast (DVB) Project. I currently am evaluating QUIC over satellite.
Past Research
My current publications are listed on the publications tab. Here are examples of my current work:
- Secchi, R., Mohideen, AC. & Fairhurst, G. (2018). 'Performance analysis of next generation web access via satellite'. International Journal of Satellite Communications and Networking, vol 36, no. 1, pp. 29 -43. DOI: 10.1002/SAT.1201
- Khademi, N., Armitage, G., Welzl, M., Zander, S., Fairhurst, G. & Ross, D. (2017). Alternative Backoff: Achieving Low Latency and High Throughput with ECN and AQM. in G Karlsson, A Brunstrom, H Jiang, T Wolf & V Fodor (eds), Proceedings of IFIP Networking 2017. NETWORKING2017/1570335770
- Khademi, N., Ros, D., Welzl, M., Bozakov, Z., Brunstrom, A., Fairhurst, G., Grinnemo, K-J, Hayes, D., Hurtig, P., Jones, T., Mangiante, S., Tüxen, M. & Weinrank, F. (2017). 'NEAT: A Platform- And Protocol-Independent Internet Transport API'. IEEE Communications Magazine, vol 55, no. 6, pp. 46-54. DOI: 10.1109/MCOM.2017.1601052
- Jones, T., Fairhurst, G. & Perkins, C. (2017). Raising the Datagram API to Support Transport Protocol Evolution. in G Karlsson, A Brunstrom, H Jiang, T Wolf & V Fodor (eds), 16th International IFIP TC6 Networking Conference, 2017, Stockholm, Sweden, 12-15 June. NETWORKING2017/1570347877
- Papastergiou, G., Fairhurst, G., Ross, D., Brunstrom, A., Grinnemo, K-J, Hurtig, P., Khademi, N., Tüxen, M., Welzl, M., Damjanovic, D. & Mangiante, S. (2017). 'De-ossifying the Internet Transport Layer: A Survey and Future Perspectives'. IEEE Communications Surveys & Tutorials, vol 19, no. 1, pp. 619 - 639. DOI: 10.1109/COMST.2016.2626780
- Briscoe, B., Brunstrom, A., Petlund, A., Hayes, D., Ross, D., Tsan, I-J, Gjessing, S., Fairhurst, G., Griwodz, C. & Welzl, M. 'Reducing Internet Latency: A Survey of Techniques and their Merit'. IEEE Communications Surveys & Tutorials, vol 18, no. 3, pp. 2149 - 2196. DOI: 10.1109/COMST.2014.2375213
- Fairhurst, G., Secchi, R. & Yun, A. (2013). 'A flexible QoS architecture for DVB-RCS2'. International Journal of Satellite Communications and Networking, vol 31, no. 5, pp. 219-232. DOI: 10.1002/SAT.1026
- Townsend, L., Sathiaseelan, A., Fairhurst, G. & Wallace, C. (2013). 'Enhanced broadband access as a solution to the social and economic problems of the rural digital divide'. Local Economy, vol 28, no. 6, pp. 580-595. DOI: 10.1177/0269094213496974
Collaborations
I participate in research projects at the UK national level and in European research projects.
Since 2004, my research group has been a member of the prestigious European SatNEx Network of Excellence, which brings together 22 leading European research establishments in the satellite communications field, and within this, he leads the work on Standardisation.
ERG participates as an experimenter and contributor in the MONROE measurement platform.
Funding and Grants
Over the years my research has been funded from a range of sources including: EPSRC, European Space Agency (ESA), European Commission (EC), industry (e.g., Astrium, Inmarsat, QinetiQ, Thales, Delta Communications), and UK government agencies (including JISC, DSTL, BNSC, RSRE, DERA, BIS).
- Teaching
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Teaching Responsibilities
I have supervised over 50 student honours projects, including co-supervision of projects with Computer Science and a number of placements from overseas universities (Socrates/Erasmus).
I currently teach two undergraduate courses:
- Level 3: Communications Engineering I (a lab-based course in digital control protocols, such as DMX, RDM, and CAN bus)
- Level 4: Communications Engineering II (Networking technologies, Ethernet, the TCP/IP protocol stack and Internet Engineering)
I have been an invited speaker at many professional and research meetings on TCP/IP, broadband standards, and the future evolution of the transport service for the Internet.
I am part of the team who deliver the annual professional Satellite Communications Course by the IET, Savoy Place, London.
- Publications
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Page 1 of 11 Results 1 to 25 of 256
Is it possible to extend IPv6?
Computer Communications, vol. 214, pp. 90-99Contributions to Journals: ArticlesReducing the acknowledgement frequency in IETF QUIC
International Journal of Satellite Communications and Networking, vol. 41, no. 4, pp. 315-330Contributions to Journals: ArticlesEnhancing HTTP Web Protocol Performance with Updated Transport Layer Techniques
International Journal of Computer Networks and Communications, vol. 15, no. 4, pp. 1-17Contributions to Journals: Articles- [ONLINE] DOI: https://doi.org/10.5121/ijcnc.2023.15401
- [ONLINE] View publication in Scopus
Designing Experiments to Avoid Internet Measurement Pitfalls: IRTF Measurement and Analysis for Protocols Research Group, IETF-116
Contributions to Conferences: Other ContributionsMeasuring Performance of Web Protocol with Updated Transport Layer Techniques for Faster Web Browsing
Chapters in Books, Reports and Conference Proceedings: Conference ProceedingsInternet Measurements: IPv6 Extension Header Edition: Internet Engineering and Planning Group, IETF-116
Contributions to Conferences: Other Contributions- [ONLINE] Video Recording of IEPG meeting
Challenges in Network Management of Encrypted Traffic
Working Papers: Working Papers- [ONLINE] https://arxiv.org/abs/1810.09272
Measuring Roaming in Europe: Infrastructure and Implications on Users QoE
IEEE Transactions on Mobile Computing, vol. 21, no. 10, pp. 3687 - 3699Contributions to Journals: Articles- [ONLINE] DOI: https://doi.org/10.1109/TMC.2021.3058787
- [ONLINE] View publication in Scopus
XRC: An Explicit Rate Control for Future Cellular Networks
Chapters in Books, Reports and Conference Proceedings: Conference ProceedingsConsiderations around Transport Header Confidentiality, Network Operations, and the Evolution of Internet Transport Protocols: RFC 9065
Contributions to Conferences: Other ContributionsImpact of Acknowledgements Using IETF QUIC on Satellite Performance
Chapters in Books, Reports and Conference Proceedings: Conference ProceedingsOvercoming the Sorrows of the Young UDP Options
Chapters in Books, Reports and Conference Proceedings: Conference ProceedingsRethinking ACKs at the Transport Layer
Chapters in Books, Reports and Conference Proceedings: Conference ProceedingsOn the usability of transport protocols other than TCP: A home gateway and internet path traversal study
Computer Networks, vol. 173, 107211Contributions to Journals: Articles- [ONLINE] DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.comnet.2020.107211
- [ONLINE] View publication in Scopus
Understanding ACKs using High BDP Paths: Internet Reserach Task Force (PAN-RG) Meeting presentation
Contributions to Conferences: Other ContributionsImpact of Asymmetric Path Characteristics: Internet Reserach Task Force (PAN-RG) Meeting presentation
Contributions to Conferences: Other ContributionsMeasuring mobile performance in the Tor network with OnionPerf
Chapters in Books, Reports and Conference Proceedings: Conference Proceedings- [ONLINE] DOI: https://doi.org/10.23919/TMA.2019.8784601
- [ONLINE] View publication in Scopus
Measuring QUIC Dynamics over a High Delay Path: Internet Research Task Force (MAP-RG) Meeting presentation
Contributions to Conferences: Other ContributionsEvaluating the impact of transport mechanisms on web performance for effective web access
Journal of Network and Computer Applications, vol. 137, pp. 25-34Contributions to Journals: Articles- [ONLINE] DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jnca.2019.04.006
- [OPEN ACCESS] http://aura.abdn.ac.uk/bitstream/2164/14006/1/JNCA_D_18_01531R2.pdf
- [ONLINE] View publication in Scopus
Usability of Internet Transport Protocols other than TCP: A Home Gateway NAT Perspective)
Contributions to Conferences: PapersTCP Alternative Backoff with ECN (ABE): RFC 8511
Contributions to Conferences: Other Contributions- [ONLINE] DOI: https://doi.org/10.17487/RFC8511
TAPS: an abstract application interface for QUIC
CoNEXT Workshop on the Evolution, Performance, and Interoperability of QUICContributions to Conferences: Posters"Free" Public Access to Internet Services via satellite for rural UK
International Journal on Advances in ICT for Emerging Regions (ICTer) , vol. 11, no. 2, pp. 1-8Contributions to Journals: Articles- [ONLINE] DOI: https://doi.org/10.4038/icter.v11i2.7196
A Tale of Two Checksums
Contributions to Conferences: Other Contributions- [ONLINE] Video Link to Talk
- [ONLINE] Copies of Slides
Experience: Implications of roaming in Europe
Chapters in Books, Reports and Conference Proceedings: Conference Proceedings- [ONLINE] DOI: https://doi.org/10.1145/3241539.3241577
- [OPEN ACCESS] http://aura.abdn.ac.uk/bitstream/2164/11656/1/com266e_mandalaria.pdf
- [ONLINE] View publication in Scopus