TCP Performance Improvement with ACK Pacing in Wireless Data Networks

Wireless data services are fundamental in ubiquitous networks. In wireless data networks, the TCP congestion mechanism can mistake a wireless channel error or blackout for congestion on the route. Several wireless TCP protocols have been proposed considering TCP performance degradation in wireless systems. However, these protocols are too complex to deploy in wireless systems. In this paper, we propose the ACK Pacing algorithm for long lasting loss periods like a hand-off or a blackout. By pacing ACK packets sending, we prevent bursty data delivery to the old path and a spurious timeout occurrence. Also, paced ACK packets trigger the route update to the new path faster. The proposed algorithm can be implemented in the wireless-node-side which is easily applicable to wireless systems. From simulation results, ACK Pacing improves TCP performance compared with many TCP variations. The ACK Pacing algorithm shows good performance during a long lasting loss period.