TCP performance over a contention based wireless multi-hop network

We analyze the performance of TCP over a simulated multi-hop wireless network based on the network topology and background traffic derived from field experiments. The channel access is a multiple access collision avoidance (MACA) type protocol, with link level acknowledgements, and a network topology based on cluster formations that include a cluster “head” through which inter-cluster traffic is transmitted. We measure the throughput for the cases of one, two and three hops, as well as the effect It has on the background traffic completion rate. We also investigate the performance of multiple file transfers performed in parallel. Finally we investigate different TCP parameters in an attempt to optimize the performance