Tcp in Networks with Abrupt Delay Variations and Random Loss

This paper provides a preliminary investigation of the effect of abrupt round-trip variations on the performance of different versions of TCP. It is shown that end-toend goodput of a bulk TCP transfer can be severely limited by variations in RTT primarily due to the non-adaptiveness of TCP’s timeout estimation and fast recovery thresholds. The paper proposes a model for evaluating the performance of TCP in environments with abrupt RTT changes and random packet loss and outlines possible future TCP improvements. KeywordsTransport Control Protocol, Wireless Networks. Mobile Ad-Hoc Networks, Satellite Networks, Internet, Performance Evaluation.