Delay-based Congestion Control Algorithms Research Articles

Improvement of Copa: Behaviors and Friendliness of Delay-Based Congestion Control Algorithm

Improvement of Copa: Behaviors and Friendliness of Delay-Based Congestion Control Algorithm

Receiver-Side TCP Countermeasure in Cellular Networks.

Cellular-based networks keep large buffers at base stations to smooth out the bursty data traffic, which has a negative impact on the user’s Quality of Experience (QoE). With the boom of smart vehicles and phones, this has drawn growing attention. For this paper, we first conducted experiments to reveal the large delays, thus long flow completion time (FCT), caused by the large buffer in the cellular networks. Then, a receiver-side transmission control protocol (TCP) countermeasure named Delay-based Flow Control algorithm with Service Differentiation (DFCSD) was proposed to target interactive applications requiring high throughput and low delay in cellular networks by limiting the standing queue size and decreasing the amount of packets that are dropped in the eNodeB in Long Term Evolution (LTE). DFCSD stems from delay-based congestion control algorithms but works at the receiver side to avoid the performance degradation of the delay-based algorithms when competing with loss-based mechanisms. In addition, it is derived based on the TCP fluid model to maximize the network utility. Furthermore, DFCSD also takes service differentiation into consideration based on the size of competing flows to shorten their completion time, thus improving user QoE. Simulation results confirmed that DFCSD is compatible with existing TCP algorithms, significantly reduces the latency of TCP flows, and increases network throughput.

DVPTCP: A Delay-Driven Virtual Parallel TCP for High-Speed and Lossy Networks

The growing diversification of network architectures and application demands results in poor performance of most existing TCPs, especially in large bandwidth-delay product (BDP) and lossy networks. To tackle this problem, we propose a novel delay-based congestion control algorithm, named DVPTCP, which estimates the network congestion level by using round-trip time (RTT) and adjusts the number of virtual parallel streams dynamically. Related theoretical analyses about throughput and TCP-friendliness are given in detail. According to our extensive simulation tests, our proposal can achieve better bandwidth utilization and TCP-friendliness than the compared schemes in large-BDP and lossy networks.

Controlling queuing delays for real-time communication

Real-time media communication requires not only congestion control, but also minimization of queuing delays to provide interactivity. In this work we consider the case of real-time communication between web browsers (WebRTC) and we focus on the interplay of an end-to-end delay-based congestion control algorithm, i.e. the Google congestion control (GCC), with two delay-based AQM algorithms, namely CoDel and PIE, and two flow queuing schedulers, i.e. SFQ and Fq_Codel. Experimental investigations show that, when only GCC flows are considered, the end-to-end algorithm is able to contain queuing delays without AQMs. Moreover the interplay of GCC flows with PIE or CoDel leads to higher packet losses with respect to the case of a DropTail queue. In the presence of concurrent TCP traffic, PIE and CoDel reduce the queuing delays with respect to DropTail at the cost of increased packet losses. In this scenario flow queuing schedulers offer a better solution.

Achieving high throughput and TCP Reno fairness in delay-based TCP over large networks

The transport control protocol (TCP) has been widely used in wired and wireless Internet applications such as FTP, email and http. Numerous congestion avoidance algorithms have been proposed to improve the performance of TCP in various scenarios, especially for high speed and wireless networks. Although different algorithms may achieve different performance improvements under different network conditions, designing a congestion algorithm that can perform well across a wide spectrum of network conditions remains a great challenge. Delay-based TCP has a potential to overcome above challenges. However, the unfairness problem of delay-based TCP with TCP Reno blocks widely the deployment of delay-based TCP over wide area networks. In this paper, we proposed a novel delay-based congestion control algorithm, named FAST-FIT, which could perform gracefully in both ultra high speed networks and wide area networks, as well as keep graceful fairness with widely deployed TCP Reno hosts. FAST-FIT uses queuing delay as a primary input for controlling TCP congestion window. Packet loss is used as a secondary signal to adaptively adjust parameters of primary control process. Theoretical analysis and experimental results show that the performance of the algorithm is significantly improved as compared to other state-of-the-art algorithms, while maintaining good fairness.

Delay-based Congestion Control for Multipath TCP

A single flow stream could be divided into several sub-flows to be sent across multiple paths. This method obtains obvious advantages against traditional TCP as it maintains higher reliability and makes bettaer use of the network resources. Congestion control algorithm is an essential part to be considered. This paper first reviews the existing multipath TCP congestion control algorithms and then analyzes and formulates the goals and problems need to be achieved and solved. A delay-based congestion control algorithm named Weighted Vegas (wVegas) is provided. Finally, two possible modifications are demonstrated including adjusting the congestion control window according to how far the path is from congestion and redefining the behavior when loss occurs.

Common problems in delay-based congestion control algorithms: a gallery of solutions

Although delay-based congestion control protocols such as FAST promise to deliver better performance than traditional TCP Reno, they have not yet been widely incorporated to the Internet. Several factors have contributed to their lack of deployment. Probably, the main contributing factor is that they are not able to compete fairly against loss-based congestion control protocols. In fact, the transmission rate in equilibrium of delay-based approaches is always less than their fair share when they share the network with traditional TCP-Reno derivatives, that employ packet losses as their congestion signal. There are also other performance impairments caused by the sensitivity to errors in the measurement of the congestion signal (queuing delay) that reduce the efficiency and the intra-protocol fairness of the algorithms. In this paper we report, analyze and discuss some recent proposals in the literature to improve the dynamic behavior of delay-based congestion control algorithms, and FAST in particular. Coexistence of sources reacting differently to congestion, identifying congestion appearance in the reverse path and the persistent congestion problem are the issues specifically addressed.

Queue Dynamics With Window Flow Control

This paper develops a new model that describes the queueing process of a communication network when data sources use window flow control. The model takes into account the burstiness in sub-round-trip time (RTT) timescales and the instantaneous rate differences of a flow at different links. It is generic and independent of actual source flow control algorithms. Basic properties of the model and its relation to existing work are discussed. In particular, for a general network with multiple links, it is demonstrated that spatial interaction of oscillations allows queue instability to occur even when all flows have the same RTTs and maintain constant windows. The model is used to study the dynamics of delay-based congestion control algorithms. It is found that the ratios of RTTs are critical to the stability of such systems, and previously unknown modes of instability are identified. Packet-level simulations and testbed measurements are provided to verify the model and its predictions.

A strategy for fair coexistence of loss and delay-based congestion control algorithms

Delay-based TCP variants have attracted a large amount of attention in the networking community because of their ability to efficiently use network resources, control queuing delays, exhibit virtually zero packet loss, etc. One major issue that discourages the wider deployment of delay-based TCP variants is their inability to co-exist fairly with standard loss-based TCP. In this note we propose a simple mechanism that allows delay- and loss-based (AIMD) TCP flows to compete fairly with each other. Further, our approach ensures that delay-based flows automatically (and swiftly) switch to a low-delay regime if no loss-based flows are present. We provide analytical and simulation results to validate presented algorithm.

Achieving fair network equilibria with delay-based congestion control algorithms

Delay-based congestion control algorithms provide higher throughput and stability than traditional loss-based AIMD algorithms, but they are inherently unfair against older connections when the queuing and the propagation delay cannot be measured accurately and independently. This paper presents a novel measurement algorithm whereby fairness between old and new connections is preserved. The algorithm does not modify the dynamics of congestion control, and runs entirely in the server host using locally available information.

TCP-Illinois: A loss- and delay-based congestion control algorithm for high-speed networks

We introduce a new congestion control algorithm for high-speed networks, called TCP-Illinois. TCP-Illinois uses packet loss information to determine whether the window size should be increased or decreased, and uses queueing delay information to determine the amount of increment or decrement. TCP-Illinois achieves high throughput, allocates the network resource fairly, and is incentive compatible with standard TCP. We also build a new stochastic matrix model, capturing standard TCP and TCP-Illinois as special cases, and use this model to analyze their fairness properties for both synchronized and unsynchronized backoff behaviors. We finally perform simulations to demonstrate the performance of TCP-Illinois.

Adaptive model predictive TCP delay-based congestion control

Adaptive Model Predictive Transmission Control Protocol (AMP-TCP) as a new TCP delay-based congestion control algorithm is introduced. Both aspects of design and implementation of the algorithm are described using simulations on the ns-2 network simulator. The design stage is composed of two steps. First, a recursive system identification approach is proposed to capture the network delay dynamics from TCP source view. Second, the proposed modeling is employed to develop an adaptive model predictive TCP congestion control strategy in the absence of any explicit congestion notification. The characteristics and performance of AMP-TCP are investigated using several network simulations. Finally a modified version of the AMP-TCP, called Vegas-Like AMP-TCP, is proposed and compared with the well known TCP Vegas algorithm in term of providing the desired number of buffered in-flight packets in the network.