Performance analysis and stochastic stability of congestion control protocols

Abstract

We study an adaptive window protocol (AWP) with a general increase and decrease profile in the presence of window dependent random losses. We derive a steady-state Kolmogorov equation and obtain its solution in analytic form. We obtain some stochastic ordering relations for a protocol with different bounds on window. A closed form necessary and sufficient stability condition using the stochastic ordering for the window process is established. Finally, we apply the general results to particular TCP versions such as NEW Reno TCP, scalable TCP and Highspeed TCP. We observe that Highspeed TCP can be used to approximate almost any kind of window behavior by varying only one design parameter.