G-Snoop: enhancing TCP performance over wireless networks

Focusing on a general wireless network where a wireless link can be at any link along the sender-to-receiver path, a new TCP enhancement scheme, called Generalized-Snoop (G-Snoop), is proposed. Since many existing applications are built on top of TCP, it is essential that any TCP enhancement scheme should be transparent to the end-systems as well as the fixed networks. To achieve this, G-Snoop only needs to be implemented at the wireless gateways, no other parts of the network require modifications. With G-Snoop, TCP senders are shielded from noncongestion packet loss and thus no unnecessary congestion control mechanisms will be performed. Simulation results show that significant throughout gain can be obtained with G-Snoop.