The Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) is the most widely used transport protocol in
the Internet. TCP is a reliable transport protocol that is tuned to perform well in wired
networks where packet losses are mainly due to congestion. Wireless channels are
characterized by losses due to transmission errors and handoffs. TCP interprets these
losses as congestion and invokes congestion control mechanisms resulting in degradation
of performance. TCP is usually layered over the Internet protocol (lP) at the network
layer. JP is not reliable and does not provide for any Quality of Service (QoS). The
Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) has provided two techniques for providing QoS
in the Internet. These include Integrated Services (lntServ) and Differentiated Services
(DiffServ). IntServ provides flow based quality of service and thus it is not scalable on
connections with large flows. DiffServ has grown in popularity since it is scalable. A
packet in a DiffServ domain is classified into a class of service according to its contract
profile and treated differently by its class. To provide end-to-end QoS there is a strong
interaction between the transport protocol and the network protocol. In this dissertation
we consider the performance of the TCP over a wireless channel. We study whether the
current TCP protocols can deliver the desired quality of service faced with the challenges
they have on wireless channel. The dissertation discusses the methods of providing for
QoS in the Internet. We derive an analytical model for TCP protocol. It is extended to
cater for the wireless channel and then further differentiated services. The model is
shown to be accurate when compared to simulation. We then conclude by deducing to
what degree you can provide the desired QoS with TCP on a wireless channel. / Thesis (M.Sc.Eng.)-University of Natal, Durban, 2001.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:ukzn/oai:http://researchspace.ukzn.ac.za:10413/5267 |
| Date | January 2001 |
| Creators | Walingo, Tom. |
| Contributors | Takawira, Fambirai. |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
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