Analysis on Markov modeling of cellular packet transmission

We set up a general framework for evaluating the accuracy of the Markov model for the packet transmission over a wireless channel. Unlike most previous studies, a broad range of fading/shadowing models and coding/modulation schemes are included in our framework. We study the effect of both the packet length and mobile speed. Our analysis is based on the approximate normal distribution and the second order statistics in both the time and frequency domain. We make the generalized conclusion that the Markov model is most accurate when the mobile movement is either very fast (packets i.i.d.) or very slow (packets highly correlated). For the first time, we explicitly show that at intermediate speed when the correlation length in the fading is comparable with the packet length, the accuracy of the Markov model is highly dependent on the specific bit level model. This intermediate range changes with the packet length. A long packet will make this range narrow and occur at low speed.