Performance comparison of TCP, UDP and TFRC in static wireless environment

Mobile adhoc networks are being used for both commercial and non-commercial applications. Since adhoc networks are deployed on the fly without any infrastructure and because majority of the applications are critical, proper functioning of the protocols is essential. The transfer of multimedia is one of the essential requirements of the adhoc network. TCP, and UDP are the transport protocols that are generally used. TCP friendly rate control (TFRC) is the transport protocol that is being used for transfer of multimedia applications because of its smooth throughput. All the three transport protocols are designed from the beginning for the wired networks. Their functioning in the mobile networks is studied only recently. In this paper the performance of transport protocols TCP, UDP, and TFRC is analyzed in adhoc networks. The purpose is to identify the limitations of the three transport protocols in adhoc networks and understanding the scope for improvement. This paper considers only static adhoc networks. The topology is serial topology with each node separated by approximately 200m distance which is the typical communication range supported by the Ns2 simulator. Ns-2.35 is used as simulator.