Fuzzy End-to-End Rate Control for Internet Transport Protocols

End-to-end Internet packet dynamics is a complex problem for which models available to date are at best incomplete. A major research problem in Internet transport layer protocols is the development of rate control mechanisms that can cope with the requirements of a growing diversity of technologies, applications and services. This paper describes novel mechanisms for intelligent end-to-end traffic rate control in Internet by means of fuzzy systems. We first outline a fuzzy logic based generalization of TCP (Transport Control Protocol) rate control principles. The design of a fuzzy TCP-like window-based rate controller is then described. A systematic fuzzy systems design methodology is used in order to simulate and implement the system as an experimental tool. A comparative evaluation of simulation and implementation results from the fuzzy rate controller as compared to that of traditional controllers is outlined. Besides being a useful modelling approach, the fuzzy rule based rate controller is shown to outperform other approaches with regards to a number of criteria.