Transport Control Protocol was designed to support data transmission in fixed wireless networks. Recent research has documented its poor performance on mobile ad-hoc network environment. This is because of TCP's weakness in distinguishing the causes of packet loss between different types of network congestion during an active data transmission.

In other words, TCP assumes that all packet losses are caused by network congestion and invokes the congestion control and avoidance algorithms. TCP uses these mechanisms to alleviate network congestion by reducing the TCP transmission rate. Another factor is the high mobility in ad-hoc networking environments. This high mobility causes wireless links, route changes, and breakages quite frequently in mobile ad-hoc networks.

There are a number of various approaches that can be used to resolve the performance degradation issues of reliable data transport in Internet based mobile ad hoc networks. Possible solutions might include modifying and improving link layer, network layer, and transport layer protocols, and eliminating the adverse interactions among these layers. Another solution is to enhance the inter-layer control and communications of control messages.

In summary, connecting a wireless ad-hoc network with a larger network such as the Internet is of great importance. We already have different facilities that are currently in use to provide various communication services for computer users. Current Internet configuration mainly depends on Transport Control Protocol for data transportation, but TCP doesn't currently show very good performance on mobile ad-hoc network. A good bit of work has already been done to redevelop or modify the existing structure of TCP. This work needs to be refined and be integrated into a single form in order to achieve reliable transportation of data in Internet-based mobile ad-hoc network.

James Booth is Editor-at-Large at ZATZ Publishing. In addition to writing for Computing Unplugged and Connected Photographer, he's the author of Do-It-Yourself Wedding Photography. A self-taught photographer, James also dabbles in digital graphics and has learned to be a PC and handheld specialist through personal trial and error. James can be reached at jbooth@zatz.com.