Packet error rate for burst-error-correcting codes in Rayleigh fading channels

In this paper, we estimate the packet error rate for data transmission over Rayleigh fading channels using burst-error correcting codes. For a certain fade margin and Doppler frequency, depending on the packet length and the fade and interfade duration statistics, bit-errors in a packet may occur in one, two or more bursts of different lengths. The packet is then considered to be lost whenever the error pattern in a packet exceeds the burst-error-correcting capability of the code. For a given data rate, these maximum tolerable bursts of errors translate to certain thresholds on the duration of fades. Thus we formulate packet loss as a level crossing problem and study the effect of Doppler frequency, fade margin, and burst error correction coding on packet error rate (PER)