TCP retransmission timer adjustment mechanism using model-based RTT predictor

Transmission control protocol (TCP) uses multiple timers to do its work. The most important of these is the retransmission timer. In this paper, the TCP retransmission timer adjustment mechanism is approached from a system point of view and a new mechanism is proposed. A simple recursive system identification algorithm is used to capture both time variant and time invariant Internet behavior. Also a dynamic model-based round-trip time (RTT) predictor was provided. Based on network simulation and real Internet data collection, it was observed that when the retransmission timer is adjusted by the proposed predictor instead of the traditional RTT estimator, performance increased significantly.