A packet-level adaptive forward error correction scheme for wireless networks

Especially for synchronization-critical wireless networks like ultrawideband impulse radio (UWB-IR), data packets are lost not only due to single bit errors in the payload but also to a large degree because of synchronization errors or preamble failures. Current FEC codes only address bit errors inside a packet. Packets that are lost because of errors in preambles or headers can only be recovered on packet level. In this Paper we propose a low-complexity adaptive packet-level FEC and prove by simulation that it can reduce packet loss with very small overhead.