Towards zero loss for TCP in wireless networks

Abstract

We propose a novel dynamic network coding retransmission scheme which can effectively mask packet losses and have a quite low decoding delay. By using network coding, we reduce the retransmission waiting time, and by using the implicit information of seen scheme, we acquire the exact number of packets the receiver needs for decoding packets. As our scheme does not require or estimate the loss rate to send redundancies in a constant rate, it is more practical to be implemented in a real system. Furthermore, we incorporate network coding with a load factor based congestion control algorithm which is easy and efficient to be implemented in practical systems. Simulation results show that our scheme significantly outperforms the previous coding approach in reducing decoding delay without sacrificing throughput. It achieves the near-zero congestion loss and "zero" error loss in wireless networks, can be easily and effectively implemented in the practical system. Keywords-network coding; packet loss; decoding delay; TCPI. 65978-1-4244-5736-6/09/$26.00 ©2009 IEEE