Evaluation of HTTP/3 Protocol for Internet of Things and Fog Computing Scenarios

Abstract

The paper investigates the performance properties of the new HTTP/3 protocol in IoT scenarios, with the focus on fog computing. A specific experimental environment is created, providing realistic IoT conditions. End-to-end delay and three different models for packet loss are introduced using the NetEm simulator in Linux. Three contemporary HTTP protocols are contrasted with two scenarios of IoT use. By comparing the experimental results obtained by the protocols HTTP/1, HTTP/2 and HTTP/3, it can be noticed that the protocol HTTP/3 outperforms the protocol HTTP/2 in 19 cases out of 24, yet it only outperforms HTTP/1 in 12 cases out of 24. Even if HTTP/3 is under development, it fulfils the requirements for performance and security for IoT and fog computing scenarios, involving unconstrained devices. With a lower connection overhead and an inherent security, HTTP/3 has secured a firm place for itself among other specialised IoT protocols.