Adding Forward Erasure Correction to QUIC

Abstract: Initially implemented by Google in the Chrome browser, QUIC gathers a growing interest. The first stable specification for QUIC v1 is expected by the end of 2018. It will deliver the same features as TCP+TLS+HTTP/2. The flexible design adopted by the IETF for QUIC enables this new protocol to support a variety of different use cases. In this paper, we revisit the reliable transmission mechanisms that are included in QUIC. More specifically, we design, implement and evaluate Forward Erasure Correction extensions to QUIC. Our design supports a generic FEC frame and our implementation includes the XOR, Reed-Solomon and Convolutional RLC schemes. We evaluate its performance by applying an experimental design with a wide range of packet loss conditions. In single-path scenarios, RLC delivers more data than the two other schemes with short loss bursts. Reed-Solomon outperforms RLC when the bursts are longer. We also apply FEC to Multipath QUIC with a new packet scheduler that helps to recover more lost packets.