A markovian model for TCP over ATM

This paper focuses on the development of an approximate Markov chain model and a detailed simulation model for the performance analysis of TCP connect ions supporting long file transfers within high-speed ATM networks. The Mar kov model construction is first illustrated, emphasizing the simplifying as sumptions introduced to maintain an acceptable complexity in the performanc e study. Then the model validation is described, comparing the analytical r esults with those produced by a very detailed simulation setup in which the officially distributed BSD 4.3 TCP-reno code was adapted to run on top of a software tool for the simulation of ATM networks. Numerical results indic ate that the analytical model is able to capture the overall behavior of th e system with respect to the performance measures we consider, with a cost which is orders of magnitude less than the one necessary to obtain reliable estimates from the detailed simulation model.