Multipath TCP: Analysis and Design

Multi-path TCP (MP-TCP) has the potential togreatly improve application performance by using multiple pathstransparently. We propose a fluid model for a large class ofMP-TCP algorithms and identify design criteria that guaranteethe existence, uniqueness, and stability of system equilibrium.We clarify how algorithm parameters impact TCP-friendliness,responsiveness, and window oscillation and demonstrate aninevitable tradeoff among these properties. We discuss theimplications of these properties on the behavior of existingalgorithms and motivate a new design that generalizes existingalgorithms and strikes a good balance among TCP-friendliness,responsiveness, and window oscillation. We illustrate our analysisand the behavior of the new algorithm using ns2 simulations.