Performant TCP for Low Power Wireless Networks

Explore a groundbreaking conference talk from NSDI '20 that challenges conventional wisdom about TCP performance in low-power wireless networks. Delve into the systematic study conducted by researchers from the University of California, Berkeley, demonstrating how a well-designed TCP stack can achieve impressive results in IEEE 802.15.4-based LLNs. Discover how careful implementation and modifications to both transport and link layers lead to TCP goodput within 25% of an upper bound, significantly outperforming prior results. Learn about the viability of TCP-based transport in LLNs, offering seamless interoperability with existing TCP/IP networks while maintaining low-power operation comparable to CoAP. Gain insights into the challenges of low-power networks, implementation techniques, and solutions such as adaptive radio duty cycling and mitigating hidden terminals. Understand how this research paves the way for more efficient and interconnected Internet of Things applications using resource-constrained embedded devices.