TCP-L: Allowing Bit Errors in Wireless TCP

This paper presents a technique to improve the performance of TCP and the utilization of wireless networks. Wireless links exhibit high rates of bit errors, compared to communication over wireline or fiber. Since TCP cannot separate packet losses due to bit errors versus congestion, all losses are treated as signs of congestion and congestion avoidance is initiated. This paper explores the possibility of accepting TCP packets with an erroneous checksum, to improve network performance for those applications that can tolerate bit errors. Since errors may be in the TCP header as well as the payload, the possibility of recovering the header is discussed. An algorithm for this recovery is also presented. Experiments with an implementation have been performed, which show that large improvements in throughput can be achieved, depending on link and error characteristics.