ARQ protocol for infrared wireless LANs: packet-level ACK or no-packet-level ACK?

The use of packet-level acknowledgements in the infrared medium access control layer is discussed. Currently, infrared link access control protocols use go-back-N ARQ scheme. Any ARQ scheme is optional in the MAC layer. The advantages and disadvantages of using stop-and-Wait ARQ scheme in the medium access control layer as well as go-back-N ARQ in the link control layer are discussed. The system is compared to a system in which no ARQ scheme is used in the medium access layer. The performances of both systems are investigated in the presence of adaptive data rate mechanism.