TCP Performance over UMTS-HSDPA Systems

The evolution of the mobile communication market is causing a major increase in data traffic demands. This could lead to disrupted mobility and intermittent degraded channel conditions that contribute to poor transmission control protocol (TCP) performance. TCP Performance over UMTS-HSDPA Systems presents a comprehensive study of the effect of TCP on achieved application bit rate performance and system capacity, and shows how to reduce the interaction of wireless networks on TCP with minimal cost. With self-contained chapters, the book consists of two main sections. The first several chapters provide background and describe the state of the art for wireless networks, emphasizing one of the third-generation (3G) wireless technologies: the universal mobile telecommunications system (UMTS). These chapters also include an analysis of the overall cell capacity for UMTS Release 99 and high-speed downlink packet access (HSDPA) systems. The second section focuses on the interaction of TCP with wireless systems, presenting an exhaustive list of TCP versions and link layer solutions that adapt TCP (often modifying the original TCP) to a wireless network. This section also displays mathematical modeling of the interaction of hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) and TCP in UMTS networks. While offering information for advanced undergraduate students who are unfamiliar with code division multiple access (CDMA) wireless systems as well as UMTS and HSDPA cellular systems, the book also provides extensive coverage of "TCP over wireless systems" problems and solutions for researchers, developers, and graduate students.