Path-Selection Method Based on the Available Bandwidth of Interfaces

Abstract

The number of end devices equipped with multiple interfaces is increasing, owing to the spread of the Internet and the development of wireless communication technologies. Many applications work and communicate simultaneously in one end device. However, such end devices are difficult to utilize multiple interfaces and multiple paths effectively. Traditional transport protocols, such as Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) and User Datagram Protocol (UDP), support only single-path communication, so end device applications tend to use only single interface and path. Application' flows become unbalanced and compete; hence, their performance degrades. There are many related works using multiple interfaces and paths simultaneously, such as Multipath Transmission Control Protocol (MPTCP) and Multipath Internet Protocol (MPIP). However, in some cases, these methods cannot improve the communication performance because scheduling to multipath for concurrent applications is not effective. In this paper, we propose the path-selection method for each application based on the available bandwidth of interfaces of a device. This method can utilize network resources and improve the performance of all applications when many applications work and communicate on a device equipped with multiple interfaces. We evaluate this method using network simulations and show its usability.