Minimum RTT Estimation Under Low ACK Frequency

In traditional acknowledgment mechanisms, the sender frequently "pulls" ACK packets, resulting in significant protocol control overhead. This leads to wasted CPU and I/O resources, contention for packet spectrum on half-duplex links (e.g., WLAN), and reverse-path congestion in asymmetric links (e.g., satellite network). Reducing the number of ACKs is essential in scenarios where ACK overhead is non-negligible. However, a lower ACK frequency can introduce biases in delay estimation, such as overestimating the minimum round-trip time (minRTT). This document proposes how to calibrate the estimation of the minRTT under low ACK frequency conditions.