Work

Simplemux traffic optimization protocol

Year: 2026

Type: software-paper

Abstract: • Simplemux is a protocol designed to address network inefficiency and delivery uncertainty. • The traffic saving functionality improves the low network efficiency caused by small packets. • The fast delivery grant functionality is useful for services with critical latency constraints. • A user-space implementation of Simplemux in C is provided. • Perl and Lua scripts, and also Wireshark captures are included in the repository. This paper presents a user-space C implementation of Simplemux, an experimental network protocol designed to improve efficiency and reliability in packet-switched networks. It provides two main functionalities: (i) traffic saving, by aggregating small packets into larger ones to reduce bandwidth consumption and packets per second; and (ii) fast delivery grant, by redundantly sending critical packets to minimize latency over unreliable links. The implementation includes three flavors (compressed, fast, blast), multiple transport modes, Robust Header Compression, and configurable multiplexing policies. Simplemux has been applied in research on online gaming, VoIP optimization, and smart grid communications.

Source: SoftwareX

DOI: 10.1016/j.softx.2025.102494

Author: Jose Saldana

Institution: CIRCE - Centro Tecnológico

Language: English

Topic: Network Traffic and Congestion Control

Subfield: Computer Networks and Communications

Field: Computer Science

Domain: Physical Sciences

Open Access status: gold

Estimated APC paid: $1,200

Funders: European Climate, Infrastructure and Environment Executive Agency, European Commission