Throughput Performance of a Set of Continuous ARQ Strategies for Markov Channels

The throughput efficiency of a set of continuous ARQ strategies for Markov channels is analyzed in this paper based on regenerative theorems. The operation of the investigated ARQ strategies can be described as follows. For each data block, a chunk of n or less copies are transmitted contiguously to the receiver. Whenever a repeat request is received, the transmitter goes back to that data block and retransmits the same data block continuously until an ACK is received. Results show that the throughput efficiency depends heavily on the value of n. Therefore, an optimal value of n can be selected to maximize the throughput efficiency. We also compare the throughput performance of the investigated ARQ strategies for Markov systems and systems under the independent error model. It is found that using the independent error model to describe Markov channels may result in significant deviation.