The tweaked version of TCP being honed by the MIT group and colleagues instead sends mathematical functions describing multiple packets so that a receiving device, such as a satellite terminal, can solve for missing ones without having to refetch them. “You transfer more packets than what you normally would, but you don’t have to retransmit,” Khan says.

via Boost Satellite Bandwidth and End Jittery Videos | MIT Technology Review.

This is a problem streaming in wifi networks with sketchy coverage  as well.  This is similar to a snippet I posted here on 10/25/2012 in reference to this article also from the MIT Technology Review  A Bandwidth Breakthrough

Apparently they’re still working on this TCP retransmission problem.