On the Accurate Simulation of TCP Behavior over Error-Prone Wireless Links with Memory

In this paper we show how traditional indoor channel models do not accurately reflect the real behavior exhibited by TCP when operated over error-prone wireless links, especially due to the large variability which is empirically observed. In contrast with them, we use a novel channel model, based on an auto-regressive filtering scheme, and which we have integrated into the Network Simulator framework, to better capture the real behavior of wireless links. We shall see that the memory characteristic of the channel, with a clear influence over retransmissions and inactivity times that the TCP transmitter suffers from, highlights as it most distinctive aspect. The idea is to provide a realistic modeling of wireless channels, so as to overcome the deficiencies which characterize other more traditional approaches.