Channel Responsive Wireless Tcp

We consider the problem of TCP congestion control over wireless links. Packet losses due to wireless channel variation needlessly throttle TCP's congestion window leading to subcapacity throughput for a given link. We consider Received Signal Strength Indication (RSSI) as a marker of channel state and propose pausing packet transmission when the channel state is poor. Using this additional metric and control leads to a congestion control algorithm better tuned for the wireless environment. The resulting Channel Responsive TCP (CR-TCP) algorithm is simple to implement and interoperable with traditional variants. We develop an optimal control framework for interference dominated environments and demonstrate the CR-TCP algorithm over various wireless link conditions showing that it outperforms traditional TCP congestion control implementations.