SCTP Multihoming Performance in Dynamically Changing Channels with the Influence of Link-Layer Retransmissions

Transport layer mobility is becoming a serious candidate for implementing seamless handover in a heterogeneous radio access network scenario. In this context, the stream control transmission protocol (SCTP) is in the core of most relevant transport layer mobility schemes being currently studied. Most of these proposals inherit multihoming and congestion control rules specified in the standard SCTP. However, standard SCTP's design was not targeted to cope with the variable nature of wireless channels. In this paper we analyse the performance of the SCTP failover mechanism when used as a handover solution in multihoming scenarios. In particular, the performance of the protocol is assessed under different radio channel variation patterns and different degrees of link level reliability. Obtained results are claimed to be a reference point for further investigation related to new proposals for handover schemes handled at the transport layer.