Multipath TCP Path Scheduler for Drones

Abstract

Multipath Transport Control Protocol (MPTCP) has been originally proposed for the data centers. MPTCP aggregates multiple interfaces available at the end devices to provide improved throughput and reliability. These features of MPTCP can also be exploited in robotic and drone1 based communications. The biggest challenge observed in drone communication is the delay or failure in the reception of control signals due to congestion caused by high bandwidth video transmissions from drones to ground stations. Such delay in the control signals may cause unwanted misbehaviors at the drones. In this poster, we have proposed a new path scheduler for MPTCP which segregates the data and control packets intelligently. This not only guarantees the successful reception of control packets but also improves the average latency with increased reliability and resilience to link failures. We have implemented the proposed scheduler in the Linux kernel and observed its performance in a Robot Operating System (ROS)2 based drone environment.