Improving link layer performance on satellite channels with shadowing via delayed two-copy selective repeat ARQ

This paper focuses on improving performance of land mobile satellite channels (LMSCs) at high band (Ka-band or EHF band), where shadowing is the primary impediment to reliable data transmission. Compared with multipath fading, shadowing exists on a longer time scale; hence, interleaving to combat shadowing introduces unacceptably large decoding delay. We use Lutz's model to investigate bit-error rate/packet-error rate (BER/PER) performance of interleaving with various forward error correction (FEC) coding as a function of different channel parameters to demonstrate its limited effectiveness for combatting burst errors whose mean duration significantly exceed a link layer (LL) packet. We propose a delayed two-copy selective repeat ARQ (DTC-SR-ARQ) scheme, whereby two copies of a packet are sent-the second with a delay relative to the first-in every transmission or retransmission. Closed-form expressions for mean transmission time, success probability, and residual loss probability are provided and simulations used to validate the analysis. Furthermore, the issue of optimum delay is addressed as well, and a simple yet effective strategy is suggested to support transmission control protocol (TCP) traffic over this data link layer. DTC-SR-ARQ is shown to achieve much shorter additional delay than interleaving and compared with normal SR-ARQ, reduces mean transmission time at expense of a small increase in residual packet loss probability. Furthermore, ns2 simulation results show that for TCP traffic, DTC-SR-ARQ acquires higher end-to-end throughput than normal SR-ARQ.