Systems Seminar

On the Effect of TCP Congestion Control Mechanism on Network Traffic

Peerapol Tinnakornsrisuphap
UW ECE Dept.

Abstract

Extensive measurements of network traffic have shown that long-range dependence (LRD) is a phenomenon present in both LAN and WAN traffic. All studies thus far have suggested that the cause of LRD in network traffic is due to the heavy-tailed distribution in filesize, or ON-OFF period distribution of the sources. However, one key component often neglected or failed to be isolated in these studies is the congestion control mechanism in TCP, which can modulate the behavior of the traffic generated by traffic sources. In this talk, we will first review fundamental concepts in the network traffic characterization problem. Next, results from the experimental study of the effect of TCP on network traffic will be presented. The talk will conclude with a discussion on several interesting open problems that arise when trying to characterize TCP traffic.

This research was supported in part by funding from the Los Alamos Computer Science Institute at Los Alamos National Laboratory under the supervision of Drs. Wu-chun Feng and Ian Philp.

Time and Place: Wed., May 3, 3:30-4:30 pm in 4610 Engr. Hall.

SYSTEMS SEMINAR WEB PAGE: http://www.cae.wisc.edu/~gubner/seminar/