Improving TCP performance by utilizing the BDP-aware mechanism

Available bit rate (ABR) service is a service that has been developed specifically to support data traffic over the ATM network. The source of an ABR connection transmits its data according to the rate informed by the ATM network to fairly utilize available bandwidth and minimize cell loss at the ATM layer. However, most data traffic today is connected to ATM networks via Ethernet. Earlier study showed that as TCP traffic is carried over a path with concatenated EthernetATM/ABR links, the packet queues are formed at the edge device interconnecting the Ethernet and the ATM network, instead of inside the ATM network. We propose the BDP-Aware mechanism to improve the TCP performance in such an environment. It reduces the buffer requirement and improves the TCP performance without changing the TCP protocol at the hosts.