Can congestion-controlled interactive multimedia traffic co-exist with TCP?
Colin S. Perkins · 2012
The WebRTC activity in the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) and World-Wide Web Consortium (W3C) is adding standards-based interactive multimedia conferencing features to web browsers. WebRTC systems are expected to see extremely wide deployment, starting in the next year. This deployment poses a challenge, since congestion control algorithms for interactive multimedia have not been standardised. The nature of interactive multimedia traffic complicates congestion control, and the interactions between WebRTC traffic, TCP flows, and the modern network worsen the problem. The region where congestion-controlled interactive multimedia traffic can feasibly co-exist with TCP is outlined, and areas where additional development seems necessary are highlighted.