Follow the Model: How Recursive Networking Can Solve the Internet’s Congestion Control Problems

The Recursive InterNetworking Architecture RINA describes a new way to look at networking; it offers a point of view that is fundamentally different from today’s networks. This paper explains how designing congestion control strictly in line with this model almost automatically leads to a conceptually cleaner, and quite possibly altogether better design than what we have in the Internet today. We give an overview of how far the OCARINA research project has come with the development of the RINA congestion control elements that follow from this design. Then, we conclude with an explanation of how the shift in thinking that RINA suggests can be applied to more gradual Internet developments related to congestion control.