Performance Analysis of MPT-GRE Multipath Networks Under Out-of-Order Packet Arrival

Network packets may arrive out of their original order due to network delays, transmission speed variations, congestion, or uneven resource distribution. These factors cause significant challenges to network performance. These challenges result in jitter, packet loss, and reduced throughput, negatively affecting the efficient arrangement of packets. The Multipath tunnel-Generic Routing Encapsulation (MPT-GRE) architecture addresses this issue through a packet reordering mechanism designed for multipath GRE with User Datagram Protocol (UDP) encapsulation networks. This study investigates and analyses the path-specific delays, jitter, and transmission speed constraints to evaluate the influence of out-of-order packets on the MPT-GRE tunnel throughput aggregation capability. By comparing scenarios with and without the re-ordering mechanism, the results demonstrate that the reordering mechanism substantially improves the traffic throughput in symmetric and asymmetric channel configurations. Additionally, the study emphasizes the critical role of optimizing the reordering window parameter for effective performance. These findings confirm that packet reordering mechanisms significantly enhance MPT-GRE network performance by reducing the negative effects of delays and out-of-order arrivals.