Performance optimizations for wireless wide-area networks: comparative study and experimental evaluation

ABSTRACT

We present a comparative performance study of a wide selection of optimization techniques to enhance application performance in the context of wide-area wireless networks (WWANs). Unlike in traditional wired and wireless IP-based networks, applications running over WWAN cellular environments are significantly affected by the vagaries of the cellular wireless medium. Prior research has proposed and analyzed optimizations at individual layers of the protocol stack. In contrast, we introduce the first detailed experiment-based evaluation and comparison of all such optimization techniques in a commercial WWAN testbed. This paper, therefore, summarizes our experience in implementing and deploying an infrastructure to improve WWAN performance.The goals of this paper are: (1) to perform an accurate benchmark of application performance over such commercially deployed WWAN environments, (2) to implement and characterize the impact of various optimization techniques across different layers of the protocol stack, and (3) to quantify their interdependencies in realistic scenarios. Additionally, we also discuss measurement pitfalls that we experienced and provide guidelines that may be useful for future experimentation in WWAN environments.

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INDEX TERMS

Primary Classification:
  C. Computer Systems Organization
  C.4 PERFORMANCE OF SYSTEMS
      Subjects: Measurement techniques

Additional Classification:
  C. Computer Systems Organization
  C.2 COMPUTER-COMMUNICATION NETWORKS
      C.2.1 Network Architecture and Design
          Subjects: Network communications; Wireless communication
      C.2.2 Network Protocols
          Subjects: Protocol architecture (OSI model)

General Terms:
Design, Experimentation, Measurement, Performance

Keywords:
3G, CDMA 2000, GPRS, HTTP, TCP, UMTS, cellular, cross-layer interactions, multi-layer performance optimizations, proxy