Performance Enhancement of Multipath TCP Through WiFi-LTE Integration

The traditional transmission control protocol (TCP) has historically been the primary transport layer protocol for data transmission over single network links. However, the demands of modern applications for higher bandwidth have necessitated the use of multiple simultaneous connections instead of relying on a single link. Multipath TCP (MPTCP) emerges as the ideal candidate to meet these requirements. In this work, we present the development of an MPTCP-based router to provide users with an enhanced data rate experience by aggregating the speed of two or more access links. Although MPTCP holds significant potential, our observations during network congestion periods reveal a performance degradation in terms of download and upload speed. Several factors play a role in shaping the performance of MPTCP, with one of these factors being the scheduler’s design. Consequently, we introduce a novel scheduler algorithm named redundant segments at congestion (RaC) within a Programmable MultiPath (ProgMP) kernel framework. This algorithm can distribute segments by considering the congestion window of each subflow, adapting to the network’s dynamic behavior. The proposed method primarily focuses on fine-tuning the segment distribution process through the RaC algorithm. As a result, we achieved significant improvements in overall performance, including reduced transmission latency and enhanced data rate compared to existing schedulers.