Improving Throughput of Transmission Control Protocol Using Cross Layer Approach

Most of the internet users connect through wireless networks. Major part of internet traffic is carried by Transmission Control Protocol (TCP). It has some design constraints while operated across wireless networks. TCP is the traditional predominant protocol designed for wired networks. To control congestion in the network, TCP used acknowledgment to delivery of packets by the end host. In wired network, packet loss signals congestion in the network. But rather in wireless networks, loss is mainly because of the wireless characteristics such as fading, signal strength etc. When a packet travels across wired and wireless networks, TCP congestion control theory faces problem during handshake between them. This paper focuses on finding this misinterpretation of the losses using cross layer approach. This paper focuses on increasing bandwidth usage by improving TCP throughput in wireless environments using cross layer approach and hence named the proposed system as CRLTCP. TCP misinterprets wireless loss as congestion loss and unnecessarily reduces congestion window size. Using the signal strength and frame error rate, the type of loss is identified and accordingly the response of TCP is modified. The results show that there is a significant improvement in the throughput of proposed TCP upon which bandwidth usage is increased.