pTCP: an end-to-end transport layer protocol for striped connections

The TCP transport layer protocol is designed for connections that traverse a single path between the sender and receiver. However there are several environments in which multiple paths can be used by a connection simultaneously. We consider the problem of supporting striped connections that operate over multiple paths. We propose an end-to-end transport layer protocol called pTCP (parallel TCP) that allows connections to enjoy the aggregate bandwidths offered by the multiple paths, irrespective of the individual characteristics of the paths. We show that pTCP can have a varied range of applications through instantiations in three different environments: (a) bandwidth aggregation on multi-homed mobile hosts; (b) service differentiation using purely end-to-end mechanisms; (c) end-systems based network striping. In each of the applications, we demonstrate the applicability of pTCP and how its efficacy compares with existing approaches through simulation results.