TCP performance under dynamic link adaptation in cellular multi-rate WCDMA networks

This paper models and analyzes the performance of TCP (transmission control protocol) under joint rate and power adaptation with constrained BER requirements for downlink data transmission in a multi-cell VSF (variable spreading factor) WCDMA system. The performance of TCP in a wide-area Internet environment is evaluated by using computer simulations considering user mobility, short-term fading (i.e., multipath fading) and long-term fading (i.e., shadowing). The motivation is to explore the inter-layer protocol interactions and to identify suitable transport and radio link layer mechanisms to improve wireless TCP performance in a cellular WCDMA environment.