Cross-Layer Analysis of TCP Performance in a 4G System

This paper presents results from an experimental study of TCP in a wireless 4G evaluation system. Test-bed results on transport layer performance are presented and analyzed in relation to several link layer aspects. The aspects investigated are the impact of channel prediction errors, channel scheduling, delay, and adaptive modulation switch level, on TCP performance. The paper contributes a cross-layer analysis of the interaction between symbol modulation levels, different scheduling strategies, channel prediction errors and the resulting frame retransmissions effect on TCP. The paper also shows that highly persistent ARQ with fast link retransmissions do not interact negatively with the TCP retransmission timer even for short round trip delays.