Congestion due to Rate Variations in cdma2000 Data Networks

Abstract

In order to support high data rate requirements and effectively manage the scarce wireless resources, additional bandwidth channels are allocated and taken away from mobile stations in 3G wireless data networks quite frequently. A TCP sender connected to the mobile, on seeing ACKs coming at a faster pace after additional bandwidth allocation, turns overtly optimistic and injects data into the network at a rate that might be excessive for an intermediate router, thereby leading to loss of multiple packets and subsequent prolonged recovery and periods of underutilization. In this work, we characterize this problem using an analytical model for losses based on continuous flow approximation as well as an extensive simulation setup. We also illustrate how bandwidth oscillations create more severe congestion than an increase in number of users to the extent that even RED algorithm is unable to check the sharp growth of queues. As a result, multiple packets are lost in a droptail fashion. We further demonstrate the dependence of congestion due to bandwidth allocation on the time during which mobiles' rates are increased and observe the degradation in performance for typical load scenarios. We also try to identify the boundary for stable operation of RED and finally present some possible methods for improving the performance.