An Efficient Automatic Repeat Request Mechanism for Wireless Multihop Relay Networks

Recently, relay technology has been adopted to enhance the coverage and performance of wireless networks such as Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access and Long-Term Evolution Advanced (LTE-A). However, using relays to forward packets may induce more packet losses than traditional single-hop wireless networks because transmissions are conducted through multiple radio links. When there are lost packets, relay stations (RSs) decide whether to retransmit these packets with automatic repeat request (ARQ) strategies. We observe that an improper ARQ strategy increases latency, blocked packets, and workloads on the multihop relay network. This paper proposes a new relay ARQ (RARQ) scheme, providing efficient acknowledgement to reduce packet latency and the number of blocked packets with small workloads. We also propose an analytic model to evaluate the performance of the proposed mechanism. Simulation results have validated the proposed model and demonstrated that our ARQ scheme outperforms conventional approaches.