Independent per path congestion control for reliable data transmission between multi-homed hosts

A multi-homed host can be reached through multiple paths. With the popularity of multi-homed hosts, a new challenge arises on how to efficiently and simultaneously use multiple paths between multi-homed communication hosts to explore potential benefits of multi-homing feature, such as improved reliability, higher throughput etc. Standard SCTP (stream control transmission protocol) cannot support the multi-homing feature efficiently due to its per association congestion control structure. The per association congestion control structure also makes it unfeasible to extend SCTP for load sharing, load balancing and other multi-homing applications. In this paper, we illustrate limitations of the congestion control mechanism of the standard SCTP in the case of simultaneously using multiple paths. Simultaneously using multiple paths is inherent in the multi-homing feature. We proposed an independent per path congestion control principle for SCTP to overcome these limitations. SCTP with independent per path congestion control not only overcomes existing flaws of standard SCTP in supporting the multi-homing feature but also demonstrates its applicability to various multi-homing applications.