On the relationship between fundamental measurements in TCP flows

Year

2013

URL

Abstract

This paper considers fundamental measurements which drive TCP flows: throughput, RTT and loss. It is clear that throughput is, in some sense, a function of both RTT and loss. In their seminal paper Padyhe et al begin with a mathematical model of the TCP sliding window evolution process and come up with an equation showing that TCP throughput is (roughly) proportional to 1/RTT√p where p is the probability of packet loss. Their equation is shown to be consistent with data gathered on several links. This paper takes the opposite approach and analyses a large number of packet traces from well-known sources in order to create a data-driven estimate of the functions which relate TCP, loss and RTT. Regression analysis is used to fit models to connect the quantities. The fitted models show different behaviour from that expected in the Padhye et al. model.

Summary

An empirical study of how TCP throughput relates to round-trip time and packet loss, testing the classical square-root formula of Padhye et al. (throughput roughly proportional to 1/(RTT√p)) against extensive real packet-trace data and, using regression analysis, finding that real flows behave differently from what the theoretical model predicts.

bibtex

@inproceedings{clegg2013tcpmeasurements,
author = {Richard G. Clegg and Jo\~ao Taveira Ara\'ujo and Raul Landa and Eleni Mykoniati and David Griffin and Miguel Rio},
title = {On the relationship between fundamental measurements in TCP flows},
booktitle = {2013 IEEE International Conference on Communications (ICC)},
year = {2013},
pages = {2502--2506},
doi = {10.1109/icc.2013.6654909}
}

Authors

Richard G. Clegg, João Taveira Araújo, Raul Landa, Eleni Mykoniati, David Griffin, Miguel Rio

Venue

2013 IEEE International Conference on Communications (ICC), Budapest, Hungary, pp. 2502-2506