Abstract
We explore the performance of reliable data communication in mobile computing environments. Motion across wireless cell boundaries causes increased delays and packet losses while the network learns how to route data to a host’s new location. Reliable transport protocols like TCP interpret these delays and losses as signs of network congestion. They consequently throttle their transmissions, further degrading performance. We quantify this degradation through measurements of protocol behavior in a wireless networking test bed. We show how current TCP implementations introduce unacceptably long pauses in communication during cellular handoffs (800 milliseconds and longer), and propose an end-to-end fast retransmission scheme that can reduce these pauses to levels more suitable for human interaction (200 milliseconds). Our work makes clear the need for reliable transport protocols to differentiate between motion-related and congestion-related packet losses, and suggests how to adapt these protocols to perform better in mobile computing environments.
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© 1995 IEEE
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Cáceres, R., Iftode, L. (1995). Improving the Performance of Reliable Transport Protocols in Mobile Computing Environments. In: Imielinski, T., Korth, H.F. (eds) Mobile Computing. The Kluwer International Series in Engineering and Computer Science, vol 353. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-585-29603-6_7
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-585-29603-6_7
Publisher Name: Springer, Boston, MA
Print ISBN: 978-0-7923-9697-0
Online ISBN: 978-0-585-29603-6
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