Model and Method of Evaluating Performance of Transport Protocols (TCP and UDP) on a LAN Using OPNET Simulation

Abstract

The fundamental aim of network providers is to provide service to the end users of the network without losing any meaningful information. This can be achieved through an efficient transport layer supported by different protocols. However, research on TCP and UDP performance is comprehensive but often overlooks modern LAN environments with varied traffic patterns and applications, with insufficient attention to protocol-specific parameters like TCP and UDP packets. In this work, the performance of transport layer protocols in transmission control protocol (TCP) and user datagram protocol (UDP) is compared in terms of the traffic sent (packets/sec), traffic received (packets/sec), and packets dropped. The result shows that TCP ensures packet delivery than UDP. However, UDP does not guarantee packet delivery, but it sends higher traffic. Finally, it was found that TCP performs 99% and UDP performs 86%. The result also shows that UDP sent more HTTP, E-mail, Database and File transfer traffic than TCP by 15.08886, 8.2711, 16.0731, and 2.8358 packets, respectively. However, TCP receives more HTTP, E-mail, Database and File transfer traffic than UDP by 3.4933, 0.9157, 0.2456 and 10.9522 packets, respectively. OPNET simulations of TCP and UDP on LANs reveal optimal protocol configurations for applications like file transfers; these insights will guide efficient LAN design, QoS policies, and cost-effective virtual testing. The understanding of TCP and UDP dynamics in LANs through detailed simulation-based comparisons will enrich network performance models with new evidence. The findings may drive new theoretical models for protocol performance in emerging SDN and IoT-driven LAN environments.