Effectiveness of packet level acknowledgement in infrared wireless LANs

The Infrared Data Association has developed the Advanced Infrared (AIr) protocol standard for infrared wireless LANs. AIr employs a go-back-N automatic repeat request (ARQ) scheme at the link control layer to deal with transmission errors. Alternatively, an optional stop-and-wait ARQ scheme at the medium access control (MAC) layer may be employed. The effectiveness of employing the optional stop-and-wait ARQ scheme at the MAC layer is examined. Results presented in the literature for this issue have led to misleading conclusions due to poor selection of parameter values and inconsistencies in the analysis. Analytical models for protocol performance are presented and protocol utilization for various parameter values is studied.