Using Channel Output Feedback to Increase Throughput in Hybrid-ARQ

Hybrid-ARQ protocols have become common in many packet transmission systems due to their incorporation in various standards. Hybrid-ARQ combines the normal automatic repeat request (ARQ) method with error correction codes to increase reliability and throughput. In this paper, we look at improving upon this performance using feedback information from the receiver, in particular, using a powerful forward error correction (FEC) code in conjunction with a proposed linear feedback code for the Rayleigh block fading channels. The new hybrid-ARQ scheme is initially developed for full received packet feedback in a point-to-point link. It is then extended to various different multiple-antenna scenarios (MISO/MIMO) with varying amounts of packet feedback information. Simulations illustrate gains in throughput.Comment: 30 page

Green communication via Type-I ARQ: Finite block-length analysis

This paper studies the effect of optimal power allocation on the performance of communication systems utilizing automatic repeat request (ARQ). Considering Type-I ARQ, the problem is cast as the minimization of the outage probability subject to an average power constraint. The analysis is based on some recent results on the achievable rates of finite-length codes and we investigate the effect of codewords length on the performance of ARQ-based systems. We show that the performance of ARQ protocols is (almost) insensitive to the length of the codewords, for codewords of length $\ge 50$ channel uses. Also, optimal power allocation improves the power efficiency of the ARQ-based systems substantially. For instance, consider a Rayleigh fading channel, codewords of rate 1 nats-per-channel-use and outage probability $10^{-3}.$ Then, with a maximum of 2 and 3 transmissions, the implementation of power-adaptive ARQ reduces the average power, compared to the open-loop communication setup, by 17 and 23 dB, respectively, a result which is (almost) independent of the codewords length. Also, optimal power allocation increases the diversity gain of the ARQ protocols considerably.Comment: Accepted for publication in GLOBECOM 201

HARQ Buffer Management: An Information-Theoretic View

A key practical constraint on the design of Hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) schemes is the size of the on-chip buffer that is available at the receiver to store previously received packets. In fact, in modern wireless standards such as LTE and LTE-A, the HARQ buffer size is one of the main drivers of the modem area and power consumption. This has recently highlighted the importance of HARQ buffer management, that is, of the use of buffer-aware transmission schemes and of advanced compression policies for the storage of received data. This work investigates HARQ buffer management by leveraging information-theoretic achievability arguments based on random coding. Specifically, standard HARQ schemes, namely Type-I, Chase Combining and Incremental Redundancy, are first studied under the assumption of a finite-capacity HARQ buffer by considering both coded modulation, via Gaussian signaling, and Bit Interleaved Coded Modulation (BICM). The analysis sheds light on the impact of different compression strategies, namely the conventional compression log-likelihood ratios and the direct digitization of baseband signals, on the throughput. Then, coding strategies based on layered modulation and optimized coding blocklength are investigated, highlighting the benefits of HARQ buffer-aware transmission schemes. The optimization of baseband compression for multiple-antenna links is also studied, demonstrating the optimality of a transform coding approach.Comment: submitted to IEEE International Symposium on Information Theory (ISIT) 2015. 29 pages, 12 figures, submitted to journal publicatio

Reliable Transmission of Short Packets through Queues and Noisy Channels under Latency and Peak-Age Violation Guarantees

This work investigates the probability that the delay and the peak-age of information exceed a desired threshold in a point-to-point communication system with short information packets. The packets are generated according to a stationary memoryless Bernoulli process, placed in a single-server queue and then transmitted over a wireless channel. A variable-length stop-feedback coding scheme---a general strategy that encompasses simple automatic repetition request (ARQ) and more sophisticated hybrid ARQ techniques as special cases---is used by the transmitter to convey the information packets to the receiver. By leveraging finite-blocklength results, the delay violation and the peak-age violation probabilities are characterized without resorting to approximations based on large-deviation theory as in previous literature. Numerical results illuminate the dependence of delay and peak-age violation probability on system parameters such as the frame size and the undetected error probability, and on the chosen packet-management policy. The guidelines provided by our analysis are particularly useful for the design of low-latency ultra-reliable communication systems.Comment: To appear in IEEE journal on selected areas of communication (IEEE JSAC

Performance of delay constrained multi-user networks under block fading channels

Abstract. Effective Capacity (EC) indicates the maximum communication rate subject to a certain delay constraint while the effective energy efficiency (EEE) is the ratio between this EC and power consumption. In this thesis, we analyze the EC and EEE of multi-user networks operating in the finite blocklength (FB) regime. We consider a layout in which a number of users communicate through a common controller. A closed form approximation for the per-user EC is obtained in Nakagami-$m$ fading collision channels. The interference between transmitted data packets degrades the EC of each user. We analyze this decrease proposing three methods to alleviate the interference effect for one of the users namely power control, delay relaxation and joint compensation. Our results show that systems with stringent delay constraints favor power controlled compensation while for shorter packets, the amount of compensation needed by both $\theta$ relaxation and power increases is higher. Thus, it is more costly to compensate networks transmitting shorter packets. For the hybrid method, we maximize an objective function whose parameters are determined according to the design priorities (e.g. rate and latency requirements). Results reveal that there is a unique throughput maximizer which is obtained at an intermediate operational point applying both power control and delay relaxation in the joint compensation process. Furthermore, we characterize the per-user EEE for different power consumption models. The results show that accounting for empty buffer probability enhances the per-user EEE. Considering flexible transmission power and extending the maximum delay tolerance boosts the per-use EEE which is depicted in the thesis as well.Suorituskyvyn analysointi viiverajoitetussa usean käyttäjän verkossa lohkohäipyvissä kanavissa. Tiivistelmä. Efektiivinen kapasiteetti kertoo suurimman tietoliikenteen datanopeuden määritetyillä viiverajoituksilla, kun taas efektiivinen energiatehokkuus on efektiivisen kapasiteetin ja tehonkulutuksen suhde. Tässä diplomityössä analysoidaan efektiivistä kapasiteettia ja efektiivistä energiatehokkuutta monisolmuverkoissa, kun käytetään äärellistä lohkon pituutta. Työssä käytetään mallia, jossa tietty määrä käyttäjiä kommunikoi yhteisen kontrolliyksikön ohjaamana. Käyttäjäkohtaisen efektiivisen kapasiteetin approksimaatio datapakettien törmäyksiä mallintavassa Nakagami-m -häipyvässä kanavassa esitetään suljetussa muodossa. Lähetettyjen pakettien välinen häiriö pienentää kunkin käyttäjän efektiivistä kapasiteettia. Tätä ilmiötä pyritään lieventämään kolmella ehdotetulla menetelmällä eli tehonsäädöllä, viiveen relaksoinnilla ja näiden yhdistelmällä. Tutkimustulokset osoittavat, että tiukkojen viiverajoitusten voimassa ollessa tehopohjainen kompensointi toimii parhaiten kun taas lyhyille paketeille vaaditaan molempia menetelmiä. Niinpä lyhyitä paketteja lähettävien verkkojen kompensointimenetelmät ovat kalliita. Hybridimenetelmässä maksimoidaan kohdefunktio, jonka parametrit määritellään suunnittelukriteerien mukaan (esim. datanopeus- ja viivevaatimukset). Tulokset paljastavat, että löytyy yksittäinen verkon läpäisykyvyn maksimoiva keskialueen toimintapisteen kohta teho- ja viivepohjaista kompensointia yhdessä käytettäessä. Lisäksi työssä mallinnetaan solmukohtaista efektiivistä energiatehokkuutta eri tehonkulutusmalleilla. Tulokset osoittavat, että ei-tyhjän puskurin todennäköisyyden huomioon ottaminen parantaa käyttäjäkohtaista efektiivistä energiatehokkuutta. Työssä kuvataan myös, että joustavan lähetystehon käyttö yhdessä väljennetyn maksimiviivetoleranssin kanssa parantaa efektiivistä energiatehokkuutta