Relative Rate Reduction Based Control with Adjustable Congestion Level

Abstract: In Future Internet it is possible to change elements of congestion control in order to eliminate jitter and batch loss caused by the current control mechanisms based on packet loss events. We investigate the fundamental problem of adjusting sending rates to achieve optimal utilization of highly variable bandwidth of a network path using accurate packet rate information. This is done by continuously controlling the sending rate with a function of the measured packet rate at the receiver. We propose the relative loss of packet rate between the sender and the receiver (Relative Rate Reduction, RRR) as a new accurate and continuous measure of congestion of a network path, replacing the erratically fluctuating packet loss. We demonstrate that with choosing various RRR based feedback functions the optimum is reached with adjustable congestion level. The proposed method guarantees fair bandwidth sharing of competitive flows. Finally, we present testbed experiments to demonstrate the performance of the algorithm.