A proxy-based framework to enhance user level performance of GPRS/UMTS networks

This paper presents a proxy-based framework for Internet access through GPRS/UMTS networks. The proxy, deployed at the network boundary, is able to employ some scheduling strategies to assist the wireless network in charge of incoming traffic according to system capacity and user demand. In particular, we investigate the system performance on flow level and consider the impact of some user behaviors. The objective is to maximize utilization of the network by exploiting the property of delay tolerance, and to improve user-level performance such as response time. In addition, the proxy splits TCP connections into two halves, the wired and wireless sides. The TCP stacks on the wireless-facing side of the proxy can be modified to enhance the performance over the wireless link, while keeping compatibility with the conventional TCP implementations on mobile hosts. The effectiveness of this approach is illustrated by analysis and simulations.