Cross layer based schemes for improving the performance of TCP in wireless networks

Abstract

Transmission Control Protocol TCP helps in end-to-end communication and reliability. In wired networks, TCP has various congestion control methods but these are not efficient in case of wireless communications. In wireless networks, packet losses can be due to various reasons. But these losses are considered as Congestion losses in the wired network by the sender. As a result, throughput is reduced and results in the wastage of bandwidth in wireless networks. This paper lays emphasis on various cross layer schemes to improve the performance of TCP in wireless networks. In Cross layer schemes, the lower layers provide information to the upper layers especially to transport layer which on receiving the information tries to make distinction between congestion and wireless losses. Various cross layer schemes to improve the performance of TCP in wireless networks has been surveyed in this paper.