Performance analysis of the Multi‑connection Tactile Internet Protocol over 5G

Abstract

Tactile Internet is an Internet network that combines ultra-low latency with extremely high availability and reliability. Since traditional protocols, such as UDP and TCP, cannot support this operation, other transport protocols are required to meet the stringent requirements of the Tactile Internet. This paper evaluates the implementation of the Multi-connection Tactile Internet Protocol (MTIP), a multi-connectivity transport protocol for the Tactile Internet. MTIP uses application and network status information to select network paths intelligently and, in so doing, to improve reliability and latency. The paper studies how different configurations of the MTIP algorithm impact its path selection and the effect on lost and late packets. This evaluation is performed in an emulated environment and in a 4G/5G lab to evaluate the protocol in diverse scenarios. The results show a direct trade-off between higher reliability requirements and the number of duplicate packets.