Analyzing the Interaction Between TCP Variants and Routing Protocols in Static Multi-hop Ad hoc Network

Abstract

In recent year, wireless Internet become more popular due to growth of mobile devices. TCP is designed to perform well in traditional wired networks, where packet loss is used as measure of congestion. However, TCP connections in ad hoc networks are plagued by problems such as high bit error rates, frequent route changes, multi-path routing, and temporary network partitions. The throughput of TCP over such connection is not satisfactory, because TCP misinterprets the packet loss or delay as congestion and invokes congestion control and avoidance algorithm. Hence, it is of utmost importance to identify the most suitable and efficient TCP variants that can perform well in MANET. Main objective of this paper is to find suitable routing protocols for TCP variants and analyze the performance differential variation in static multi-hop ad hoc network in terms of throughput, packet delivery ratio, and packet loss. Result using NS2 shows that AODV is best routing protocol with respect to throughput and packet delivery ratio irrespective of TCP variants. Vegas is the best protocol among TCP variants due to its higher throughput and higher PDR and lower packet loss in most situations, and DSR has lower packet loss irrespective of TCP variants.