Window-games between TCP flows

Abstract

We consider network congestion problems between TCP flows and define a new game, the Window-game, which models the problem of network congestion caused by the competing flows. Analytical and experimental results show the relevance of the Window-game to the real TCP game and provide interesting insight on Nash equilibria of the respective network games. Furthermore, we propose a new algorithmic queue mechanism, called Prince, which at congestion makes a scapegoat of the most greedy flow. Preliminary evidence shows that Prince achieves efficient Nash equilibria while requiring only limited computational resources. © 2008 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.