A Comparison of Equation-Based and AIMD Congestion Control

Abstract

This paper considers AIMD-based (Additive-Increase Multiplicative-Decrease) congestion control mechanisms that are TCP-compatible (i.e., that compete reasonably fairly with TCP), but that reduce their sending rate less sharply than does TCP in response to a single packet drop. The paper then briefly compares these smoother AIMD-based congestion control mechanisms with TFRC (TCP-Friendly Rate Control), which makes use of equation-based congestion control.