Modeling a heterogeneous network with TCP connections using fluid flow approximation and queuing theory

摘要

In the current Internet, most of the traffic is transmitted by TCP (Transmission Control Protocol). In our previous work, we have proposed a modeling approach for the entire network, including TCP congestion control mechanisms operating at source hosts and the network seen by TCP connections, as a single feedback system. However, our analytic model is limited to a simple network, where TCP connections have the identical propagation delay. In this paper, we therefore extend our analytic approach to a more generic network, where multiple TCP connections are allowed to have different propagation delays. We derive the packet loss probability in the network, the throughput and the average round-trip time of each TCP connection in steady state. By presenting several numerical examples, we quantitatively investigate how the fairness among TCP connections is degraded when multiple TCP connections with different propagation delays share the single bottleneck link.