A novel loss indication filtering approach for multicast congestion control

A key issue in the design of source-based multicast congestion control schemes is how to aggregate loss indications from multiple receivers into a single rate control decision at the source. Such aggregation entails filtering out a portion of the loss indications received by the source, and then using the remaining for rate adjustments. In this paper, we first propose a set of goals guiding the design of loss indication filters. We then present a novel loss indication filtering approach, the linear proportional response (LPR) approach. Analysis and simulation is used to compare LPR to two well-known approaches — the random listening algorithm (RLA) Proceedings of ACM SIGCOMM (1998)] and the worst estimate-based tracking (WET) Proceedings of IEEE Infocom (1999)] approach. Our results indicate that LPR achieves a desirable tradeoff between stability and response, thereby making it more suitable than WET and RLA for deployment in an Internet-like environment.