Explicit Window Adaptation: A Method to Enhance TCP Performance

We study the performance of TCP in an internetwork consisting of both rate-controlled and non-rate-controlled segments. A commonexample of such an environment occurs when the end systems are part of IP datagram networks interconnected by a rate-controlled segment, such as an ATM network using the ABR service. In the absence of congestive losses in either segment, TCP keeps increasing its window to its maximumsize. Mismatchbetween the TCP windowand the bandwidth-delayproduct ofthe network willresult inaccumulation of large queues and possibly bu er over ows in the devices at the edges of the rate-controlled segment, causing degraded throughput and unfairness. We develop an explicit feedback scheme, called Explicit Window Adaptation based on modifying the receiver's advertised window in TCP acknowledgments returning to the source. The window size indicated to TCP is a function of the free bu er in the edge device. Results from simulationswith a wide range of tra c scenarios show th...

• Type: Conference
• Year: 1998
• Where: INFOCOM
• Authors: Lampros Kalampoukas, Anujan Varma, K. K. Ramakrishnan
• Keywords: Bu Er, Communications, Explicit Window Adaptation, INFOCOM 1998, Rate-controlled Segment