Re: [6lowapp] Where does TCP not work

Hi Cullen,

Sorry, I meant to provide some references on this issue.  Basically, here is
the problem:
1)  TCP was written back in the day when Ethernet was the primary transport.
One key assumption made in TCP was that packet timeout was related to
congestion.  TCP reacts to packet timeouts by adjusting the transmit timing
and using back off.
2)  Wireless networks (especially mesh topologies) experience packet loss as
a result of failure of the RF link.  Note that IEEE 802.11 does not
typically exhibit this type of loss.  The reason is that for IEEE 802.11
(actually WiFi) the last hop wireless link from the AP can be guaranteed via
MAC level acknowledges and retries.  The trouble with mesh links is that
link errors are not propagated and, even if they are, result in route
re-establishment which violates the TCP timeout on the far end and starts
the "congestion management" procedure in TCP (which actually makes the
problem worse as some of the links below indicate).

I am not saying categorically that TCP does not work for wireless links.  I
am saying that for many wireless links, TCP does not work well (and in some
extreme cases, at all).  Here are some examples from the IETF archives and
other industry trials......

http://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc4653.txt
http://www.sics.se/~adam/ewsn2004.pdf
http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/xpl/freeabs_all.jsp?arnumber=686057

I used to have a more exhaustive reference list but I think if you do a
search you will see this is a long standing problem....

Don

-----Original Message-----
From: 6lowapp-bounces@ietf.org [mailto:6lowapp-bounces@ietf.org] On Behalf
Of Cullen Jennings
Sent: Saturday, October 31, 2009 10:33 AM
To: 6lowapp@ietf.org
Subject: [6lowapp] Where does TCP not work

Multiple people have told me that TCP won't work on some of the types  
of networks we want to run on. Anyway I'd like to understand a bit  
more on why this is.

I could go dig a 9600 baud modem out of my closet, set the MTU at 100,  
and emulate 10% packet loss on server side and go try some things. I'm  
relatively confidently TCP, HTTP, pop, imap, SSH, and TLS will all  
work just fine.

So, what are the network conditions that we think are going to cause a  
problem for TCP? and, what might one do to make something that worked  
better than TCP in these cases.

Thanks, Cullen

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