Modelling and Analysis of TCP Performance in Wireless Multihop Networks

Hannan Xiao, Ying Zhang, James Malcolm, Bruce Christianson, Kee Chaing Chua

.

DOI: 10.4236/wsn.201027061                

Abstract

Researchers have used extensive simulation and experimental studies to understand TCP performance in wireless multihop networks. In contrast, the objective of this paper is to theoretically analyze TCP performance in this environment. By examining the case of running one TCP session over a string topology, a system model for analyzing TCP performance in multihop wireless networks is proposed, which considers packet buffering, contention of nodes for access to the wireless channel, and spatial reuse of the wireless channel. Markov chain modelling is applied to analyze this system model. Analytical results show that when the number of hops that the TCP session crosses is ?xed, the TCP throughput is independent of the TCP congestion window size. When the number of hops increases from one, the TCP throughput decreases ?rst, and then stabilizes when the number of hops becomes large. The analysis is validated by comparing the numerical and simulation results.

Keywords

Wireless Multihop Networks, TCP Modelling, TCP, Ad Hoc Networks

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

References

[1]	G. Holland and N. H. Vaidya, “Analysis of TCP Performance over Mobile Ad Hoc Networks,” Proceedings of IEEE/ACM MobiCom’99, Seattle, August 1999, pp. 219230.
[2]	M. Gerla, R. Bagrodia, L. Zhang, K. Tang and L. Wang, “TCP over Wireless Multi-Hop Protocols: Simulation and Experiments,” Proceedings of IEEE ICC’99, Vancouver, Vol. 2, June 1999, pp. 1089-1094.
[3]	Z. Fu, H. Luo, P. Zerfos, S. Lu, L. Zhang and M. Gerla, “The Impact of Multihop Wireless Channel on TCP PerFormance,” IEEE Transactions on Mobile Computing, Vol. 4, No. 2, March 2005, pp. 209-221.
[4]	H. Xiao, K. G. Seah, A. Lo and K. C. Chua, “On Service Differentiation in Multihop Wireless Networks,” ITC Specialist Seminar on Mobile Systems and Mobility, Lillehammer, March 2000, pp. 1-12.
[5]	X. Chen, H. Zhai, J. Wang and Y. Fang, “TCP Performance over Mobile Ad Hoc Networks,” Journal of Electrical & Computer Engineering, Vol. 29, No. 1/2, 2004, pp. 129-134.
[6]	K. Chandran, S. Raghunathan, S. Venkatesan and R. Prakash, “A Feedback-Based Scheme for Improving TCP Performance in Ad Hoc Wireless Networks,” IEEE Personal Communications, Vol. 8, No. 1, 2001, pp. 34-39.
[7]	Z. Fu, X. Meng and S. Lu, “A Transport Protocol for Supporting Multimedia Streaming in Mobile Ad Hoc Networks,” IEEE Journal on Selected Areas in Communications, Vol. 21, No. 10, 2003, pp. 1615-1626.
[8]	Z. Fu, P. Zerfos, H. Luo, S. Lu, L. Zhang and M. Gerla, “The Impact of Multihop Wireless Channel on TCP Performance,” IEEE INFOCOM’03, San Francisco, Vol. 3, March 2003, pp. 1744-1753.
[9]	X. Yu, “Improving TCP Performance over Mobile Ad Hoc Networks by Exploiting Cross-Layer Information Awareness,” Proceedings of IEEE/ACM MobiCom’04, Philadelphia, September 2004, pp. 231-244.
[10]	R. Oliveira and T. Braun, “A Smart TCP Acknowledgment Approach for Multihop Wireless Networks,” IEEE Transactions on Mobile Computing, Vol. 6, No. 2, 2007, pp. 192-205.
[11]	X. Li, P. Y. Kong and K. C. Chua, “DTPA: A Reliable Datagram Transport Protocol over Ad Hoc Networks,” IEEE Transactions on Mobile Computing, Vol. 7, No. 10, 2008, pp. 1285-1294.
[12]	F. Wang and Y. Zhang, “Improving TCP Performance over Mobile Ad Hoc Networks with Out-Of-Order Detection and Response,” Proceedings of IEEE/ACM MobiHoc’02, Lausanne, June 2002, pp. 217-225.
[13]	K. Chen, Y. Xue and K. Nahrstedt, “On Setting TCP’s Congestion Window Limit in Mobile Ad Hoc Networks,” Proceedings of IEEE ICC’03, Anchorage, Vol. 2, May 2003, pp. 1080-1084.
[14]	K. Xu, M. Gerla, L. Qi and Y. Shu, “Enhancing TCP Fairness in Ad Hoc Wireless Networks Using Neighborhood RED,” Proceedings of IEEE/ACM MobiCom’03, San Diego, September 2003, pp. 16-28.
[15]	L. Yang, W. K. G. Seah and Q. Yin, “Improving fairness among TCP flows crossing wireless ad hoc and wired networks,” Proceedings of IEEE/ACM MobiHoc’03, New York, June 2003, pp. 57-63.
[16]	V. Anantharaman, S. J. Park, K. Sundaresan and R. Sivakumar, “TCP Performance over Mobile Ad Hoc Networks: A Quantitative Study,” Wireless Communications and Mobile Computing, Vol. 4, No. 2, 2004, pp. 203-222.
[17]	K. Nahm, A. Helmy and C.-C. Jay Kuo, “TCP over Multihop 802.11 Networks: Issues and Performance Enhancement,” Proceedings of MobiHoc’05, New York, 2005, pp. 277-287.
[18]	F. Klemm, Z. Ye, S. V. Krishnamurthy and S. K. Tripathi, “Improving TCP performance in ad hoc networks using signal strength based link management,” Ad Hoc Networks, Vol. 3, No. 2, 2005, pp. 175-191.
[19]	H. Xiao, K. C. Chua, K. G. Seah and A. Lo, “A Quantitative Analysis of TCP Performance over Wireless Multihop Networks,” Proceedings of IEEE VTC2001-Fall, Atlantic, Vol. 2, May 2001, pp. 610-614.
[20]	H. Xiao, K. C. Chua, J. A.Malcolm and Y. Zhang, “Theoretical Analysis of TCP Throughput in Ad Hoc Wireless Networks,” IEEE Global Telecommunications Conference, Atlanta, Vol. 5, 2005, pp. 2714-2719.
[21]	X. Li, P. Y. Kong and K. C. Chua, “TCP Performance in IEEE 802.11-Based Ad Hoc Networks with Multiple Wireless Lossy Links,” IEEE Transactions on Mobile Computing, Vol. 6, No. 12, 2007, pp. 1329-1342.
[22]	T. V. Lakeshman and U. Madhow, “The Performance of TCP/IP for Networks with High Bandwidth-Delay Products and Random Loss,” IEEE/ACM Transactions on Networking, Vol. 3, No. 3, June 1997, pp. 336-350.
[23]	A. Kumar, “Comparative Performance Analysis of Versions of TCP in a Local Network with a Lossy Link,” IEEE/ACM Transactions on Networking, Vol. 6, No. 4, August 1998, pp. 485-498.
[24]	M. Mathis, J. Semske, J. Mahdavi and T. Ott, “The Macroscopic Behavior of the TCP Congestion Avoidance Algorithm,” Computer Communication Review, Vol. 27, No. 3, July 1997, pp. 67-82.
[25]	J. Padhye, V. Firoiu, D. Towsley and J. Kurose, “Modeling TCP Throughput: A Simple Model and its Empirical Validation,” ACM Computer Communication Review, Vol. 28, No. 4, September 1998, pp. 303-314.
[26]	C. Casetti and M. Meo, “A New Approach To Model The Stationary Behavior of TCP Connections,” Proceedings of IEEE INFOCOM 2000, Tel-Aviv, Vol. 1, March 2000, pp. 367-375.
[27]	V. Paxson and S. Floyd, “Empirically-Derived Analytic Models of Wide-Area TCP Connections,” IEEE/ACM Transactions on Networking, Vol. 2, No. 4, August 1994, pp. 316-336.
[28]	V. Paxson and S. Floyd, “Wide-area Traffic: The Failure of Poisson Modeling,” ACM Computer Communication Review, Vol. 24, No. 4, October 1994, pp. 257-268.
[29]	H. M. Chaskar, T. V. Lakshman and U. Madhow, “TCP over Wireless with Link Level Error Control: Analysis and Design Methodology,” IEEE/ACM Transactions on Networking, Vol. 7, No. 5, October 1999, pp. 605-615.
[30]	T. V. Lakshman, U. Madhow and B. Suter, “TCP/IP Performance with Random Loss and Bidirectional Congestion,” IEEE/ACM Transactions on Networking, Vol. 8, No. 5, October 2000, pp. 541-555.
[31]	V. Bharghavan, A. J. Demers, S. Shenker and L. Zhang, “MACAW: A Media Access Protocol for Wireless LANs,” ACM SIGCOMM, Vol. 24, No. 4, 1994, pp. 212225.
[32]	D. Bertsekas and R. Gallager, “Data Networks,” 2nd Edition, Prentice Hall, London, 1992.