Improving the throughput of point-to-multipoint ARQ protocols through destination set splitting

An approach to improving the performance of point-to-multipoint automatic repeat request (ARQ) protocols is considered. The approach involves splitting the destination set into disjoint groups and having the source carry out independent time multiplexed conversations with each group. The performance of memoryless and limited-memory versions of stop-and-wait and go-back-N protocols was investigated and the question of how to pick an optimal grouping of nodes was addressed. The results indicate that destination set splitting can improve the throughput of point-to-multipoint ARQ protocols, particularly if the receivers' capabilities are not identical