  The vast available spectrum in the millimeter wave (mmWave) bands offers the
possibility of multi-Gbps data rates for fifth generation (5G) cellular
networks. However, mmWave capacity can be highly intermittent due to the
vulnerability of mmWave signals to blockages and delays in directional
searching. Such highly variable links present unique challenges for adaptive
control mechanisms in transport layer protocols and end-to-end applications.
This paper considers the fundamental question of whether TCP - the most widely
used transport protocol - will work in mmWave cellular systems. The paper
provides a comprehensive simulation study of TCP considering various factors
such as the congestion control algorithm, including the recently proposed TCP
BBR, edge vs. remote servers, handover and multi- connectivity, TCP packet size
and 3GPP-stack parameters. We show that the performance of TCP on mmWave links
is highly dependent on different combinations of these parameters, and identify
the open challenges in this area.
