Evaluation of a split-connection mobile transport protocol
Wireless Networks
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In this paper, we propose a novel approach to reduce the wirelesscommunication overhead associated with the transport layer.Portability is a key element of mobile computing. As mobile devicesshrink in terms of size and weight, their computing capabilitiesare also reduced, constrained by battery capacity. To sustain agood performance level of mobile applications, we devise a solutionthat reduces the processing complexity on computing-limited mobiledevices. Additionally, we aim to minimize the use of wirelessresources to further improve performance. Specifically, we developa streamlined protocol architecture, Mobile TCP (MTCP), thatachieves the elimination of IP processing on the wireless segmentof the TCP connection. MTCP operates over a single hop wirelesslink, and, consequently, it eliminates the unnecessary overheadplaced on mobile devices, such as the TCP congestion controlmechanisms. In addition, we investigate the impact of streamliningthe socket layer on offloading the processing overhead. Ourexperimental results indicate a substantial improvement in theefficiency of protocol processing. For instance, results show thatthe MTCP processing time per packet is approximately only onefourth that of TCP and the use of CPU resources is reduced by up to50%. Furthermore, the protocol incorporates variousrobust, yet simple, loss recovery techniques to considerablyimprove the throughput in lossy wireless conditions.