Considering spurious timeout in proxy for improving TCP performance in wireless networks

We introduce a new proxy that effectively prevents unnecessary retransmissions from flowing over a wireless link on a path with sudden delay. The proposed STD algorithm detects a spurious timeout based on the comparison of the measured inter-arrival timeout of ACK during the spurious timeout period with the average inter-arrival time of ACK. It responds to spurious timeout by filtering duplicate ACKs that can cause spurious fast retransmission. Simulation results show that the proposed spurious timeout detection (STD) algorithm performs better than, or as well as, other end-to-end mechanisms in the ranges of data rate which current wireless networks can provide.