A radio system design tool for Forward Error Corrections in wireless CSMA networks: Analysis and economics

As cyber-physical systems become pervasive, their power consumption and system design practices are major concerns. This paper explores problems of deploying Forward Error Correction (FEC) in wireless commercial standards such as IEEE 802.11b and 802.15.4. First, we describe battery life estimation that includes practical factors such as system issues and the negative impact by retransmissions vs. power impact by overhead of encoding schemes. Secondly, we explore the link to design economics and demonstrate a design decision method. Theoretical analyses validated with simulations provide a decision tool for engineers and management during system design. Different from previous unfavorable usage in FEC, we show that for cyber-physical devices FEC should be now strongly considered under proper circumstances, as it provides the opportunity for saving communications-related energy for prolonged battery life, which is critical for devices in hard-to-reach locations and battlefield.