A Control Theoretical Look at Internet Congestion Control

Abstract

Congestion control mechanisms in today’s Internet represent perhaps the largest artificial feedback system ever deployed, and yet one that has evolved mostly outside the scope of control theory. This can be explained by the tight constraints of decentralization and simplicity of implementation in this problem, which would appear to rule out most mathematically-based designs. Nevertheless, a recently developed framework based on fluid flow models has allowed for a belated injection of control theory into the area, with some pleasant surprises. As described in this chapter, there is enough special structure to allow us to “guess” designs with mathematically provable properties that hold in arbitrary networks, and which involve a modest complexity in implementation.