ENIC - an improved reliable transport scheme for mobile ad hoc networks

We propose an end-to-end reliable data transport scheme to solve the issues of TCP performance degradation and packet losses due to bit errors and route failures in mobile ad hoc networks. We refer to this scheme as the explicit notification with enhanced inter-layer communication and control (ENIC) mechanism. Because of the distinct characteristics between mobile ad hoc networks and wired networks, we introduce a new design methodology - enhanced inter-layer control mechanism - to improve the reliability of data transport. Comprehensive effects of interactions among medium access control (MAC), routing and transmission control protocol (TCP) are considered. Moreover, our scheme provides a true end-to-end TCP maintenance and recovery method during route failure. A quantitative implementation is simulated and compared with the standard SACK (selective acknowledgement) TCP. Simulation results demonstrate the advantages of our scheme.