Link-Coupled TCP for 5G Networks

The performance of network applications is often hampered by the lack of flexibility in their association with end-to-end transport solutions. Applications with very diverse requirements on throughput and packet delay are typically offered a single, generic option for end-to-end transport. Lower down in the protocol stack, every link of the network applies a single criterion for packet admission to all flows in the same, coarsely defined class of service. Link-Coupled TCP (LCTCP) is a new solution for end-to-end transport that leverages the architectural trends of 5G networks to enable the accurate satisfaction of the peculiar requirements of every application. LCTCP first isolates the 5G access link as the only possible network bottleneck for the application flow, then establishes a lightweight signaling channel between the application server and the network endpoint of the link. It can be deployed incrementally, without modification of the clients. We demonstrate the feasibility and effectiveness of LCTCP using a Linux prototype.