A Control-Theoretic Perspective on BBR/CUBIC Congestion-Control Competition

Abstract: To understand the fairness properties of the BBR congestion-control algorithm (CCA), previous research has analyzed BBR behavior with a variety of models. However, previous model-based work suffers from a trade-off between accuracy and interpretability: While dynamic fluid models generate highly accurate predictions through simulation, the causes of their predictions cannot be easily understood. In contrast, steady-state models predict CCA behavior in a manner that is intuitively understandable, but often less accurate. This trade-off is especially consequential when analyzing the competition between BBR and traditional loss-based CCAs, as this competition often suffers from instability, i.e., sending-rate oscillation. Steady-state models cannot predict this instability at all, and fluid-model simulation cannot yield analytical results regarding preconditions and severity of the oscillation. To overcome this trade-off, we extend the recent dynamic fluid model of BBR by means of control theory. Based on this control-theoretic analysis, we derive quantitative conditions for BBR/CUBIC oscillation, identify network settings that are susceptible to instability, and find that these conditions are frequently satisfied by practical networks. Our analysis illuminates the fairness implications of BBR/CUBIC oscillation, namely by deriving and experimentally validating fairness bounds that reflect the extreme rate distributions during oscillation. In summary, our analysis shows that BBR/CUBIC oscillation is frequent and harms BBR fairness, but can be remedied by means of our control-theoretic framework.