Header Compression for Wireless Backhaul Systems

A backhaul modem, comprising:

• a processor;
• and
• a memory coupled to the processor, the memory configured to store program instructions executable by the processor to cause the device to:
• receive an ingress packet from an Ethernet switch, wherein the packet includes an uncompressed header, and wherein the packet belongs to a given one of a plurality of different packet flows;
• add a context create tag to the packet to create a tagged packet in response to a determination that the given packet flow is suitable for compression;
• transmit the tagged packet to a receiver device via a wireless link;
• receive an acknowledgment from the receiver device via the wireless link, wherein the acknowledgement is configured to indicate that the receiver device has built a compression context associated with the given packet flow in response to having received the tagged packet;
• and
• transmit a subsequent packet of the given packet flow to the receiver device in a compressed state.

A non-transitory electronic storage medium having program instructions stored thereon that, upon execution by a processor of a device, cause the device to:

• receive a packet from a backhaul modem device via a wireless backhaul link, wherein the packet belongs to a given one of a plurality of different packet flows suitable for compression, wherein the packet includes an uncompressed header, wherein the packet is an Ethernet packet having a static field and a derivable field, wherein the static field includes at least one of:
• a source Internet Protocol (IP) address, a destination IP address, or a Media Access Control (MAC) address, wherein the derivable field includes at least one of:
• a checksum field or an Ethertype field, and wherein the packet includes a context create tag;
• create a compression context associated with the given packet flow in response to the context create tag, wherein the compression context includes the static field and an indication of the derivable field;
• transmit an acknowledgment to the backhaul modem, wherein the acknowledgement is configured to indicate that the compression context has been built;
• and
• receive a subsequent packet of the given packet flow in a compressed state, wherein the subsequent packet in the compressed state does not have the static field or the derivable field.