biostudies-literatureHui WNatural Science Foundation of Henan ProvinceNational Natural Science Foundation of Chinae0161249https://www.ebi.ac.uk/biostudies/studies/S-EPMC5033568biostudies-literatureUnknown11(9)Due to a set of constant initial values, the performance of conventional TCP drops significantly encountering heterogeneous network, showing low throughput and unfairness. This paper firstly demonstrates the chaotic character of TCP congestion control in heterogeneous network, especially the sensitivity to initial value. Inspired by merit of nature-inspired algorithm, a novel structure of TCP congestion control (IPPM, Internet Prey-Predator Model) is proposed. Parameters such as available link capacity(C), congestion window (W) and queue length (Q) are collected by IPPM, which calculates the max value of C according to the interacting relationship existing in C, W and Q, and IPPM initiates the TCP ssthresh with the calculated value. Plenty of simulation results show that the modified TCP cPloS oneEnhancing the Flexibility of TCP in Heterogeneous Network.PMC5033568610702472009A520011Peiyu LZhihui FZheqing LXuhui WHui WfalseEnhancing the Flexibility of TCP in Heterogeneous Network.Due to a set of constant initial values, the performance of conventional TCP drops significantly encountering heterogeneous network, showing low throughput and unfairness. This paper firstly demonstrates the chaotic character of TCP congestion control in heterogeneous network, especially the sensitivity to initial value. Inspired by merit of nature-inspired algorithm, a novel structure of TCP congestion control (IPPM, Internet Prey-Predator Model) is proposed. Parameters such as available link capacity(C), congestion window (W) and queue length (Q) are collected by IPPM, which calculates the max value of C according to the interacting relationship existing in C, W and Q, and IPPM initiates the TCP ssthresh with the calculated value. Plenty of simulation results show that the modified TCP c2016-01-01T00:00:00Z20162025-04-25T19:23:43.855Z2019-03-27T02:24:55ZS-EPMC50335682765789010.1371/journal.pone.0161249