Receiver-centric Buffer Blocking-aware Multipath Data Distribution in MPTCP-based Heterogeneous Wireless Networks

Abstract

One major concern of applying Multipath TCP (MPTCP) to data delivery in heterogeneous wireless networks is that the utilization of asymmetric paths with diverse networking-related parameters may cause severe packet reordering and receive buffer blocking (RB2LOC). Although many efforts are devoting to addressing MPTCP`s packet reordering problems, their sender-controlled solutions do not consider balancing overhead between an MPTCP sender and receiver, and their fully MPTCP mode cannot make MPTCP achieve a desired performance. This paper proposes a novel receiver-centric buffer blocking-aware data scheduling strategy for MPTCP (dubbed MPTCP-rec) necessitating the following aims: (1) alleviating MPTCP`s packet reordering and RB2LOC problems, (2) improving the MPTCP performance, and (3) balancing load between the MPTCP sender and receiver. Simulation results show that the proposed MPTCP-rec solution outperforms the existing MPTCP solutions in terms of data delivery performance in heterogeneous wireless networks.