TCP AIMD dynamics over Internet connections

Abstract

The precise nature of TCP dynamics over Internet connections has not been well understood, since the existing results are solely analytical or based on simulations. We employ the time-dependent exponent curves and logarithmic displacement curves to study TCP AIMD congestion window-size traces over Internet connections. We show that these dynamics have two dominant parts, a stochastic component in response to network traffic and a deterministic chaotic component due to the nonlinearity of protocol. These dynamics can be largely characterized as anomalous diffusions with a very large exponent.