Performance of TCP Adaptive RTO in ad-hoc networks based on different routing protocols

In a mobile ad hoc network, temporary link failures and route changes occur frequently. With the assumption that all packet losses are due to congestion, TCP performs poorly in such an environment. This paper proposes a new mechanism called TCP Adaptive RTO (TCP AR), that improves TCP performance in mobile ad hoc networks. TCP AR distinguishes routes failures from network. congestion and adapts the RTO's value to network conditions. For this purpose it relies on the estimation of the network's throughput. Using the NS-2 simulator we compared TCP AR throughput to those of TCP New Reno and TCP Westwood ABSE based on different routing protocol. The simulation results discussed in this paper show that TCP AR can improve TCP throughput up to 161% using OLSR and up to 277% using DSR.