Cross-Layer Modeling of TCP SACK Performance over Wireless Channels with Completely Reliable ARQ/FEC

We propose an analytical model for a TCP SACK connection running over a wireless channel with completely reliable ARQ/FEC. We develop the model in two steps. At the first step, we consider the service process of the wireless channel and derive the probability distribution function of the time required to successfully transmit a single IP packet over the wireless channel. This distribution is used at the next step of the modeling where we derive the expression for TCP SACK steady state goodput. The developed model allows to quantify the effect of many implementation-specific parameters on TCP performance in wireless domain. We also demonstrate that TCP spurious timeouts, reported in many empirical studies, do not occur when wireless channel conditions are stationary and their presence in empirical measurements should be attributed to non-stationary behavior of wireless channel characteristics.

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