An in-depth analysis of the SCTP behavior in mobile ad hoc networks

SCTP is a reliable transport layer protocol with some interesting features for applications development in ad hoc networks. Among the others, multistreaming is one of the most interesting capabilities, that allows to increase the throughput, because it reduces the head- of-line (HOL) blocking effects. In this paper we evaluate the SCTP protocol behavior in order to show the advantages of multistreaming in ad hoc scenarios. Ad hoc networks consist of a wireless and highly dynamic environment, in which links break frequently and errors affect communication channels. Our evaluation on SCTP is carried out in comparison with the TCP protocol and it proves that SCTP outperforms TCP in highly error-prone communication systems. Also, SCTP supports better than TCP environments characterized by resources constrains, like ad hoc networks. We have performed our study with the NS2 simulator with both protocols in standard version.