Impacts of radiowave propagation over TCP in mobile networks

This paper discusses some aspects of Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) considering radio wave propagation impairments in a mobile network. The migration of mobile systems architecture from circuit-switched networks to packet switched networks offers new challenges on the studies of radio propagation and their impacts over the TCP protocol. Based on this context, this paper shows some results for the TCP in a mobile connection. The aim of this work is to understand the behavior of TCP congestion control for different environments in a wireless network and its performance when path losses and fading occurs in the mobile channel. The TCP is the most frequently used protocol in the transport layer to provide reliable Internet access. Its congestion control can be directly influenced by propagation problems. Results have shown that existence of additional controls on both mobile radio link and operational system reduces significantly the impact of propagation impairments on the TCP congestion control.