TCP over optical burst-switched networks with controlled burst retransmission

For optical burst-switched (OBS) networks in which TCP is implemented at a higher layer, the loss of bursts can lead to serious degradation of TCP performance. Due to the bufferless nature of OBS, random burst losses may occur, even at low traffic loads. Consequently, these random burst losses may be mistakenly interpreted by the TCP layer as congestion in the network. The TCP sender will then trigger congestion control mechanisms, thereby reducing TCP throughput unnecessarily. In this paper, we introduce a controlled retransmission scheme in which the bursts lost due to contention in the OBS network are retransmitted at the OBS layer. The OBS retransmission scheme can reduce the burst loss probability in the OBS core network. Also, the OBS retransmission scheme can reduce the probability that the TCP layer falsely detects congestion, thereby improving the TCP throughput. We develop an analytical model for evaluating the burst loss probability in an OBS network that uses a retransmission scheme, and we also analyze TCP throughput when the OBS layer implements burst retransmission. We develop a simulation model to validate the analytical results. Simulation and analytical results show that an OBS layer with controlled burst retransmission provides up to two to three orders of magnitude improvement in TCP throughput over an OBS layer without burst retransmission. This significant improvement is primarily because the TCP layer triggers fewer time-outs when the OBS retransmission scheme is used.     

Multi-layer loss recovery in TCP over optical burst-switched networks

It is well-known that the bufferless nature of optical burst-switching (OBS) networks cause random burst loss even at low traffic loads. When TCP is used over OBS, these random losses make the TCP sender decrease its congestion window even though the network may not be congested. This results in significant TCP throughput degradation. In this paper, we propose a multi-layer loss-recovery approach with automatic retransmission request (ARQ) and Snoop for OBS networks given that TCP is used at the transport layer. We evaluate the performance of Snoop and ARQ at the lower layer over a hybrid IP-OBS network. Based on the simulation results, the proposed multi-layer hybrid ARQ + Snoop approach outperforms all other approaches even at high loss probability. We developed an analytical model for end-to-end TCP throughput and verified the model with simulation results.     

Dropping Policy with Burst Retransmission to Improve the Throughput of TCP Over Optical Burst-switched Networks

A major concern in optical burst-switched (OBS) networks is contention, which occurs when more than one bursts contend for the same data channel at the same time. Due to the bufferless nature of OBS networks, these contentions randomly occur at any degree of congestion in the network. When contention occurs at any core node, the core node drops bursts according to its dropping policy. Burst loss in OBS networks significantly degrades the throughput of TCP sources in the local access networks because current TCP congestion control mechanisms perform a slow start phase mainly due to contention rather than heavy congestion. However, there has not been much study about the impact of burst loss on the performance of TCP over OBS networks. To improve TCP throughput over OBS networks, we first introduce a dropping policy with burst retransmission that retransmits the bursts dropped due to contention, at the ingress node. Then, we extend the dropping policy with burst retransmission to drop a burst that has experienced fewer retransmissions in the event of contention at a core node in order to reduce the number of events that a TCP source enters the slow start phase due to contention. In addition, we propose to limit the number of retransmissions of each burst to prevent severe congestion. For the performance evaluation of the proposed schemes, we provide an analytic throughput model of TCP over OBS networks. Through simulations as well as analytic modeling, it is shown that the proposed dropping policy with burst retransmission can improve TCP throughput over OBS networks compared with an existing dropping policy without burst retransmission.     

FAST TCP over optical burst switched networks: Modeling and stability analysis

FAST TCP is important for promoting data-intensive applications since it can cleverly react to both packet loss and delay for detecting network congestion. This paper provides a continuous time model and extensive stability analysis of FAST TCP congestion-control mechanism in bufferless Optical Burst Switched Networks (OBS). The paper first shows that random burst contentions are essential to stabilize the network, but cause throughput degradation in FAST TCP flows when a burst with all the packets from a single round is dropped. Second, it shows that FAST TCP is vulnerable to burst delay and fails to detect network congestion due to the little variation of round-trip time, thus unstable. Finally it shows that introducing extra delays by implementing burst retransmission stabilizes FAST TCP over OBS. The paper proves that FAST TCP is not stable over barebone OBS. However, it is locally, exponentially, and asymptotically stable over OBS with burst retransmission.     

Performance evaluation of high speed TCP over optical burst switching networks

Study of TCP performance over OBS networks has been an important problem of research lately and it was found that due to the congestion control mechanism of TCP and the inherent bursty losses in the Optical Burst Switching (OBS) network, the throughput of TCP connections degrade. On the other hand, High Speed TCP (HSTCP) was proposed as an alternative to the use of TCP in high bandwidth-delay product networks. HSTCP aggressively increases the congestion window used in TCP, when the available bandwidth is high and decreases the window cautiously in response to a congestion event. In this work, we make a thorough simulation study of HSTCP over OBS networks. While the earlier works in the literature used a linear chain of nodes as the network topology for the simulation, we use the popular 14-node NSFNET topology that represents an arbitrary mesh network in our study. We also study the performance of HSTCP over OBS for different bandwidths of access networks. We use two different cases for simulations where in the first HSTCP connections are routed on disjoint paths while in the second they contend for resources in the network links. These cases of simulations along with the mesh topology help us clearly distinguish between the congestion and contention losses in the OBS network and their effect on HSTCP throughput. For completeness of study, we also simulate TCP traffic over OBS networks in all these cases and compare its throughput with that of HSTCP. We observe that irrespective of the access network bandwidth and the burst loss rate in the network, HSTCP outperforms TCP in terms of the throughput and robustness against multiple burst losses up to the expected theoretical burst loss probability of 10⁻³.     

Improving TCP performance over optical burst-switched (OBS) networks using forward segment redundancy

Random contentions occur in optical burst-switched (OBS) networks because of one-way signaling and lack of optical buffers. These contentions can occur at low loads and are not necessarily an indication of congestion. The loss caused by them, however, causes TCP at the transport layer to reduce its send rate drastically, which is unnecessary and reduces overall performance. In this paper, we propose forward segment redundancy (FSR), a proactive technique to prevent data loss during random contentions in the optical core. With FSR, redundant TCP segments are appended to each burst at the edge and redundant burst segmentation is implemented in the core, so that when a contention occurs, primarily redundant data are dropped. We develop an analytical throughput model for TCP over OBS with FSR and perform extensive simulations. FSR is found to improve TCP’s performance by an order of magnitude at high loads and by over two times at lower loads.     

A framework of prioritized burst segmentation supporting controlled retransmission in OBS networks

In optical burst switching (OBS) networks, burst contentions in OBS core nodes may cause data loss. To reduce data loss, retransmission scheme has been applied. However, uncontrolled retransmission may increase network load significantly and data loss probability defeating the retransmission purpose. In addition, in a priority traffic existing OBS network, OBS nodes may apply different retransmission mechanisms to priorities bursts for quality-of-service (QoS) support. This study has developed a controlled retransmission scheme for prioritized burst segmentation to support QoS in OBS networks. Unlike previous works in the literature, we have set a different value to retransmission probability at each contention and propose a retransmission analytical model for burst segmentation contention resolution scheme. In addition, we have applied the proposed retransmission scheme to the prioritized burst segmentation for QoS support. We have taken into account the load at each link due to both fresh and retransmitted traffic, and have calculated the path blocking probability and byte loss probability (ByLP) for high-priority and low-priority burst to evaluate network performance. An extensive simulation has been proposed to validate our analytical model.     

A stochastic model for the behavior of multiple TCP NewReno sources over optical burst switching network

This work proposes a stochastic model to characterize the transmission control protocol (TCP) over optical burst switching (OBS) networks which helps to understand the interaction between the congestion control mechanism of TCP and the characteristic bursty losses in the OBS network. We derive the steady-state throughput of a TCP NewReno source by modeling it as a Markov chain and the OBS network as an open queueing network with rejection blocking. We model all the phases in the evolution of TCP congestion window and evaluate the number of packets sent and time spent in different states of TCP. We model the mixed assembly process, burst assembler and disassembler modules, and the core network using queueing theory and compute the burst loss probability and end-to-end delay in the network. We derive expression for the throughput of a TCP source by solving the models developed for the source and the network with a set of fixed-point equations. To evaluate the impact of a burst loss on each TCP flow accurately, we define the burst as a composition of per-flow-bursts (which is a burst of packets from a single source). Analytical and simulation results validate the model and highlight the importance of accounting for individual phases in the evolution of TCP congestion window.     

OBS网络中一种基于突发包优先级分割的可控重传方案

在光突发交换(OBS)网络中,突发包会由于竞争OBS核心节点输出端口的有限波长资源而发生冲突。突发包重传能够在一定程度上减少由于突发包在核心节点冲突而导致的数据损失,但重传次数的增加可能会加重网络负荷,反而增加数据丢失率。并且,在多业务存在的OBS网络中,重传方案需要能够实现区分服务以保证网络的服务质量(QoS)。据此,本文提出一种基于突发包优先级分割的可控重传方案,在实施优先级分割的同时,根据网络负荷赋予每次重传不同的概率,并对重传次数加以控制。最后,仿真分析了路径阻塞率和不同优先级业务的字节丢失率(ByLP,byte loss probability)性能。     

TCP Window-Based Flow-Oriented Dynamic Assembly Algorithm for OBS Networks

In transport control protocol (TCP) over optical burst switching (OBS) networks, TCP window size and OBS parameters, including assembly period and burst dropping probability, will impact the network performance. In this paper, a parameter window data dropping probability(WDDP), is defined to analyze the impact of the assembly and the burst loss on the network performance in terms of the round trip time and the throughput. To reduce the WDDP without introducing the extra assembly delay penalty, we propose a novel TCP window based flow-oriented assembly algorithm dynamic assembly period (DAP). In the traditional OBS assembly algorithms, the packets with the same destination and class of service (CoS) are assembled into the same burst, i.e., the packets from different sources will be assembled into one burst. In that case, one burst loss will influence multiple TCP sources. In DAP, the packets from one TCP connection are assembled into bursts, which can avoid the above situation. Through comparing the two consecutive burst lengths, DAP can track the variation of TCP window dynamically and update the assembly period for the next assembly. In addition, the ingress node architecture for the flow-oriented assembly is designed. The performance of DAP is evaluated and compared with that of fixed assembly period (FAP) over a single TCP connection and multiple TCP connections. The results show that DAP performs better than FAP at almost the whole range of burst dropping probability.     

OBS考虑优先级的突发包碎片可控合并重传算法

为了降低光突发交换网络中突发包的丢失率、降低网络路径的阻塞率、减小突发包冲突的概率,提出了考虑优先级的突发包碎片可控合并重传算法。当网络中数据通信发生冲突时,该算法能根据优先级进行突发包的分片,核心节点将这一信息反馈给边缘节点,边缘节点根据突发碎片的优先级以一定的概率重传被丢弃的突发包分片;同时,针对由于多次重传导致的突发包碎片过多的问题,该算法还按照突发包碎片的优先级顺序进行碎片重组,大大降低了网络的阻塞率。结果表明,相比以往的冲突解决算法,此算法在网络业务繁忙时的数据丢比特率和网络阻塞率方面的改善作用有比较明显的优势。这一结果对光突发交换网络的网络的性能改善方面是有帮助的。     

OBS网络中的新型竞争解决方案

提出一种解决光突发交换(OBS)网络节点中突发数据包冲突的方案.发生冲突时,在OBS层重传被丢弃突发数据包,然后给出评估这种重传机制丢包率的方法,并与偏射路由策略的性能进行比较,结果表明突发重传机制显著改善了丢包率.可以很好地实现服务质量(QoS)机制.     

Using multiple per egress burstifiers for enhanced TCP performance in OBS networks

Burst assembly mechanism is one of the fundamental factors that determine the performance of an optical burst switching (OBS) network. In this paper, we investigate the influence of the number of burstifiers on TCP performance for an OBS network. The goodput of TCP flows between an ingress node and an egress node traveling through an optical network is studied as the number of assembly buffers per destination varies. First, the burst-length independent losses resulting from the contention in the core OBS network using a non-void-filling burst scheduling algorithm, e.g., Horizon, are studied. Then, burst-length dependent losses arising as a result of void-filling scheduling algorithms, e.g., LAUC-VF, are studied for two different TCP flow models: FTP-type long-lived flows and variable size short-lived flows. Simulation results show that for both types of scheduling algorithms, both types of TCP flow models, and different TCP versions (Reno, Newreno and Sack), TCP goodput increases as the number of burst assemblers per egress node is increased for an OBS network employing timer-based assembly algorithm. The improvement from one burstifier to moderate number of burst assemblers is significant (15–50% depending on the burst loss probability, per-hop processing delay, and the TCP version), but the goodput difference between moderate number of buffers and per-flow aggregation is relatively small, implying that an OBS edge switch should use moderate number of assembly buffers per destination for enhanced TCP performance without substantially increasing the hardware complexity.

在OBS网络中改进TCP性能的高效机制

Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) performance over Optical Burst Switching (OBS) is experimentally investigated on an OBS network testbed, concluding that burst losses will lead to a significant drop in the available TCP bandwidth. Two mechanisms are introduced to improve TCP performance. One is concerning the burst assembly optimization and another is based on the novel assembly and scheduling mechanism to reduce the burst losses.     

A burst segmentation-deflection routing contention resolution mechanism in OBS networks

One of the key problems to hinder the realization of optical burst switching(OBS) technology in the core networks is the losses due to the contention among the bursts at the core nodes.Burst segmentation is an effective contention resolution technique used to reduce the number of packets lost due to the burst losses.In our work,a burst segmentation-deflection routing contention resolution mechanism in OBS networks is proposed.When the contention occurs,the bursts are segmented according to the lowest packet loss probability of networks firstly,and then the segmented burst is deflected on the optimum routing.An analytical model is proposed to evaluate the contention resolution mechanism.Simulation results show that high-priority bursts have significantly lower packet loss probability and transmission delay than the low-priority.And the performance of the burst lengths,in which the number of segments per burst distributes geometrically,is more effective than that of the deterministically distributed burst lengths.     

Improving Reno and New-Reno's performances over OBS networks without SACK

In TCP over optical burst switching (OBS) networks, consecutive multiple packet losses are common since an optical burst usually contains a number of consecutive packets from the same TCP sender. It has been proved that over OBS networks Reno and New-Reno achieve lower throughput performances than that of SACK, which can address the inefficiency of Reno and New-Reno in dealing with consecutive multiple packet losses. However, SACK adopts complex mechanisms not only at the sender's but also at the receiver's protocol stack, and thus has a higher difficulty in deployment.In this paper we propose B-Reno, a new TCP implementation designed for TCP over OBS networks. Using some simple modifications to New-Reno only at the sender's protocol stack, B-Reno can overcome the inefficiencies of Reno and New-Reno in dealing with consecutive multiple packet losses and thus improve their throughputs over OBS networks. Moreover, B-Reno can also achieve performance similar with that of SACK over OBS networks while avoiding SACK's difficulty in deployment due to complex mechanisms at both the sender's and the receiver's protocol stack.     

Transport control protocol in optical burst switched networks: issues, solutions, and challenges

Since its advent in 1981, TCP has been subject to a tremendous amount of research effort and enhancements for achieving better performance over various network environments and application scenarios. Due to the transmission characteristics of optical burst switched networks, such as random burst dropping, retro-blocking (i.e., bursts proceeding or delayed from their actual reservation time slot), burstification delay, and burst signaling delay, TCP could be significantly affected if no corresponding countermeasure and enhancement are developed. In this review article we provide a comprehensive survey on reported studies for TCP enhancements over OBS networks in order to mitigate the numerous side effects due to the buffer- less characteristic of burst transmission. Furthermore, we closely analyze TCP behavior over OBS networks with various burst transmission characteristics while highlighting the open challenges that have not yet been extensively tackled or solved.     

光突发交换网络中的传输控制协议性能

光突发交换(OBS)是IP over WDM核心网络采用的交换技术。在OBS网络中,送往同一边缘节点的IP分组汇聚成传输和交换的基本单元———数据突发(DB),DB丢弃会导致大量IP分组丢失,显著影响传输层的性能。文中分析OBS网络的参数对传输控制协议(TCP)吞吐量和时延的影响。仿真结果表明,DB丢包率越高,TCP性能越差。在低丢包率情况下,随着DB长度的增加,TCP吞吐量和端到端时延明显增加,高丢包率情况下则不明显;随着汇聚周期的增加,TCP吞吐量逐渐下降,端到端时延逐渐增加。     

Analytical framework for end-to-end design of optical burst-switched networks

This paper presents an analytical model of TCP throughput in optical burst-switched (OBS) networks. Several parameters characterize this system and influence the network design process, such as the assembly time, the access bandwidth, the burst loss rate, and they are taken into account in the formulation of TCP send rates. Moreover burst loss is considered a consequence of contention in core nodes and it is formulated in relation to a quite general core node architecture. The novelty of the work is represented by the possibility of analytically representing the whole end-to-end connection so that a fast and effective tool to evaluate the relationships between network and access design is provided. An application example is given to prove the practical significance of the approach. Simulation results are provided to validate the model and the related assumptions.