Suggested Improvements for Wireless TCP Endpoints

Abstract

Packet loss in IP networks can be congestive due to IP interrupt queue overflow on the nodes, and non- congestive due to link disruption caused by hardware failure, signal-fading or obstacles. Recognition of two types of losses can largely help TCP endpoints in making right decisions. In this paper we apply the visualized IP-based network simulator (VINS) to characterize the key differences between two types of packet losses. Based on the analyses, improvements for wireless TCP endpoints are proposed on both kernel and application levels in terms of avoiding useless keep-alive probing and congestion window tuning, but re-routing and re-establishing new connections.