Active queue management exploiting the rate information in TCP-IP networks

In this paper, we propose a new mechanism called explicit rate notification ( ERN ) to be used in end-to-end communications. The ERN scheme encodes in the header of transmission control protocol ( TCP ) packets information about the sending rate and the round trip time ( RTT ) of the flows. This new available information to the intermediate nodes ( routers ) is used to improve fairness, increase utilization, decrease the number of drops, and minimize queueing delays. Thus, it induces a better management of the queue. A comparison of our scheme with preexistent schemes, like the explicit congestion notification scheme, shows the effectiveness of the proposed mechanism.