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User Datagram Protocol (UDP)

Use of the User Datagram Protocol (UDP) is widespread on the Internet for time-sensitive transmissions like DNS lookups and video playback. By not explicitly establishing a connection before the data is sent, it speeds up communications.

In this article, we will look more into the UDP according to the GATE Syllabus for (Computer Science Engineering) CSE. We will read ahead to find out more about it.

Table of Contents

What is User Datagram Protocol (UDP)?

The simplest type of transport layer communication protocol of the TCP/IP protocol family is the User Datagram Protocol (UDP). There are very few communication mechanisms involved in this communication protocol. Although UDP is regarded as an unreliable type of transport protocol, it makes use of IP services, which offer best-effort delivery.

In UDP, the sender doesn’t wait for any acknowledgement of packets sent, and the receiver does not provide a packet acknowledgement of packets received. This flaw renders the protocol less stable and processing-friendly.

Requirement of UDP

Why we require an unreliable protocol to transfer the data is a valid question. We use UDP, where acknowledgement packets and data share a considerable amount of resources.

For instance, when streaming video, thousands of packets are sent in the direction of the users. It is difficult and perhaps wasteful of a significant amount of bandwidth to acknowledge every packet. Even if the underlying IP protocol’s best delivery mechanism makes every attempt to transmit its packets, the impact if some video streaming packets are lost is not catastrophic and may be simply disregarded. Sometimes, the loss of a few packets in voice and video communication passes unreported.

Features of UDP

  • When acknowledgement of the data is not important, UDP is used.
  • For one-way data transfer, UDP is a good protocol.
  • UDP is easy to use and good for communications based on queries.
  • UDP does not focus on connections.
  • There is no congestion control mechanism in UDP.
  • Data transmission according to order is not guaranteed by UDP.
  • UDP has no states.
  • For streaming applications like VoIP and multimedia streaming, UDP is an appropriate protocol.

UDP Header

The UDP header is as basic as its purpose.

There are four primary arguments in the UDP header:

  • Source Port – The source port of a packet is identified using this 16-bit information.
  • Destination Port – This 16-bit information is used to identify the destination machine’s application-level service.
  • Length – The length field in a UDP packet gives its whole length (including the header). It is a 16-bit field with an 8-byte minimum value, which corresponds to the size of the UDP header.
  • Checksum – The checksum value produced by the sender before sending is stored in this field. Since this field is optional in IPv4, it is set to 0, and all of its bits are set to 0 when the checksum field is empty.

UDP Application

Listed below are a few uses for UDP data transmission:

  • Simple Network Management Protocol
  • Domain Name Services
  • Routing Information Protocol
  • Trivial File Transfer Protocol
  • Kerberos

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