On the interaction of TCP and Routing Protocols in MANETs

Recent research in mobile ad hoc networks (MANETs) has highlighted the detrimental effect of multiple retransmission timeouts (RTOs) on TCP throughput. However, the effect of the routing protocol’s buffering strategy on this phenomenon has not been explicitly demonstrated or studied. In this paper, we present and analyse through simulations using functional testbed routing agents, TCP throughput performance during a route break event. The results of our analysis on three popular routing protocols, namely AODV, DSR and OLSR, produces insight into the different behavioural patterns of TCP during this event, and highlights the mechanisms of each routing protocol that affect it. Further, trade-offs in the choice of the routing parameters with respect to TCP performance are discussed.