Modeling frame-level errors in GSM wireless channels

We compare four different approaches towards modeling frame-level errors in GSM channels. One of these, the Markov-based trace analysis (MTA) model, was developed for the purpose of modeling a GSM channel. The next two, k^th-order Markov models and hidden Markov models (HMMs) have been widely used to model loss in wired networks. All three of these have difficulty modeling empirical GSM frame-level error traces. The MTA model and HMM predict frame error rates substantially different from that measured from the trace, and all three models have difficulty capturing the long term temporal correlation structure. We propose a fourth model, the extended ON/OFF model, which alternates between an ON (error-free) and an OFF (error-filled) state. The state holding times are taken from mixtures of geometric distributions. We show that this model, with mixtures of three or four geometric distributions, captures first order and second order statistics significantly better than the preceding three approaches.