AIMD TCP

Understanding AIMD in TCP congestion control

This is an easy foundational question on TCP networking that tests whether you understand the acronym and its role in how modern transport protocols manage data flow. It is the kind of definition-level question interviewers ask to establish baseline knowledge before moving into harder congestion-control scenarios.

AIMD is a core algorithm used by TCP to balance throughput and fairness. Understanding what the acronym expands to — and more importantly, what each component does — is essential before tackling questions about why TCP behaves the way it does under congestion, how it avoids network collapse, or how it competes fairly with other flows. This concept appears frequently in systems interviews and networking courses.

• TCP congestion-window dynamics
• Additive vs. multiplicative scaling strategies
• Network fairness and stability