Markov models of ARQ and HARQ techniques for the wireless channel

Marco Levorato
DEI, University of Padova, Italy email: levorato@dei.unipd.it .

Abstract This report reviews papers using Markov models for ARQ and HARQ techniques. In particular, we classify existing implementation of such models according to the kind of ARQ system and the modeled delay terms. The analysis of the delay statistics for SR ARQ is important as it enables system design under statistical delay requirements.

I. I NTRODUCTION Retransmission-based error correction schemes for information transmission are widely utilized to provide a reliable service, especially on error-prone channels such as the wireless medium. In this sense, an analytical description of the protocols belonging to the ARQ (Automatic Retransmission reQuest) and Hybrid ARQ (HARQ) can be an extremely useful instrument for researchers. In the literature, several models have been proposed to study ARQ and HARQ. This report will be briey review some of them which are based on an appropriate formulation through Markov chains. In particular, they are aimed at Selective Repeat (SR) ARQ, but the framework can be promptly adapted to include other kinds of ARQ as well. We recall that the most common basic schemes of ARQ include stop-and-wait (SW), go-back-N (GBN) and selective repeat (SR), with the SR being the most efcient of them. Actually, these schemes are different only if the feedback is non-instantaneous, i.e., the round-trip time is larger than the transmission time of a packet. Otherwise, we are in a situation where all schemes coincide, which in the literature [4] is referred to as ideal SR ARQ. II. D ELAY TERMS OF SR ARQ Consider a discrete time-axis with time slots equal to the packet transmission time and We assume a non instantaneous transmission feedback, i.e., the receiver replies to transmitted packets with acknowledgement / not acknowledgement (ACK/NACK) messages, which are known at the transmitters side after a round-trip time larger than one slot. Thus, erroneous packets are retransmitted but before the corresponding retransmission other packets are sent over the channel. Data packets must be released to higher layers in-order, i.e., when every packet with lower identier has been acknowledged; thus, the receiver keeps in a buffer the packet correctly received but not yet released.

packet arrives

packet is delivered

queueing delay Q

queueing buffer

resequencing buffer n
resequencing delay

channel
roundtrip time =

error? y

m slots

transmission delay

delivery delay D
Fig. 1. The model of SR ARQ and its delays

The overall delay term can be subdivided into different terms, for which standard terms are adopted in the literature [6]. The queueing delay is experienced at the transmitter by the packets waiting for being sent over the channel; they are also delayed by retransmissions, which achieve higher priority. After transmission, the receiver releases packets only after the correct reception of every packet with lower identier. Hence, to the transmission delay of a packet an additional term must be added, taking into account the transmission of previous packets which are still to be acknowledged. The delay spent by a packet waiting in the receiver buffer for the nal delivery is called re-sequencing delay. The sum of the transmission and re-sequencing delay is also referred to as delivery delay. Fig. 1, taken from [7], graphically represents the delay terms of the SR ARQ scheme mentioned above. III. M ARKOV CHANNELS AND ARQ To represent the wireless channel one may adopt a Markov representation, an approach combining practicality and accuracy [8]. In particular, a simple instance of such a model can be obtained by assuming that the wireless channel is described by a two-state Discrete Time Markov Chain (DTMC), with states 0 (error free) and 1 (always in error). This model, though simplied, is reasonable assumption in many cases [4]. However, if desired, this can be extended to account for a more complex system, like a higher order Markov Chain [9], without changing the nature of the analytical approach. The channel transition probability matrix P is as follows: P= p00 p01 p10 p11 . (1)

From this equation, the steady-state channel error probability and the average error burst length can be derived as = p01 /(p10 + p01 ) and B = 1/p10 , respectively. Note that P is uniquely characterized by and B. 2

IV. R EVIEW OF EXISTING MODELS Specic mathematical models have been derived, using appropriate Markov chains to describe the evolution of different SR ARQ systems. The reader is referred to the papers mentioned in the following for a detailed description of the models. In every case, the following assumptions are made: The error process is described by a nite-state Markov chain, whose time slot equals the transmission time of a packet Retransmissions take place after a constant round-trip delay larger than one slot. Additionally, these assumptions are common, though not made in every paper (the scope of some papers being exactly to relax one of these assumptions and showing that certain general conclusions do not depend on that specic assumption): The receiver answers with error-free ACK/NACKs The error process is described by the binary Markov channel mentioned above The transmitter has a simplied arrival process; in most of the cases a Heavy Trafc assumption is used (meaning the transmitter has always a packet in queue to transmit); note that in this case only the derivation of the delivery delay is possible (the queueing delay becomes non meaningful). The model derived in [10] evaluates the delivery delay statistics under all the above hypotheses. It also presents an approximate model to reduce the computational complexity [11] and an extension to the case in which an aggregate of K packets is transmitted instead [12]. In [13] more complex channels are analyzed, which are described by N-state Markov chains and may have errors on the feedback channel. Moreover, algorithms to derive a suitable Markov chain representation from the physical layer characteristics have been reviewed. In [6] the queueing statistics have been analyzed as well (transmitters buffer occupancy, queueing delay) under the assumption of Bernoulli arrival process. The paper [14] extends this contribution also to the case where the arrival process is correlated, and give an analytical explanation of effects shown for the rst time by [15] in a simulation context. Finally, Hybrid ARQ (HARQ) techniques are the focus of [16]. In this paper, Reed Solomon block codes are used for error correction. Thus, an N-state models is again used, but here different states describe a different error level of the packet. In the HARQ context, an erroneous packet can be corrected after a proper combination of copies, none of which is necessarily error-free. On the same line, physical level characterization through Markov chains, already studied in [13] for plain ARQ, has been analyzed in [17]. Here an advanced model for the analytical characterization of such schemes has been discussed, even in the presence of error-correcting codes more rened than the simple Reed Solomon block codes. R EFERENCES
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