Multi-path TCP (MP-TCP) has the potential to greatly improve application performance by using multiple paths transparently. We propose a fluid model for a large class of MP-TCP algorithms and identify design criteria that guarantee the existence, uniqueness, and stability of system equilibrium. We clarify how algorithm parameters impact TCP-friendliness, responsiveness, and window oscillation and demonstrate an inevitable tradeoff among these properties. We discuss the implications of these properties on the behavior of existing algorithms and motivate a new design that generalizes existing algorithms and strikes a good balance among TCP-friendliness, responsiveness, and window oscillation. We have implemented our algorithm in the Linux kernel. We use our prototype to compare the new algorithm with existing MP-TCP algorithms.
@article{arxiv.1308.3119,
title = {Multipath TCP: Analysis, Design and Implementation},
author = {Qiuyu Peng and Anwar Walid and Jaehyun Hwang and Steven H. Low},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1308.3119},
year = {2015}
}