Automatic Repeat Request Design in AoI-Aware Broadcast With Heterogeneous Direct and Relay-Assisted Users

This article investigates the design of automatic repeat request (ARQ) protocols in Age of Information (AoI)-aware broadcast systems with heterogeneous users, including both direct and relay-assisted users. In this setup, a direct user receives status updates directly via a single-hop link, while a relay-assisted user can receive status updates through either a direct single-hop link or a two-hop relay-assisted link. While ARQ is commonly used to ensure reliable transmission in error-prone wireless networks, previous studies suggest that ARQ does not improve the average AoI in single-hop networks. However, its impact on AoI in systems with relays, particularly those involving heterogeneous users, remains unclear. We address this gap by analyzing the average AoI under different ARQ strategies, introducing a transmission limit $k \geq 0$ at the relay. Here, $k=0$ , $k=1$ , and $k\gt 1$ correspond to nonrelay, non-ARQ-at-relay, and truncated-ARQ-at-relay strategies, respectively. Utilizing a unified Markov chain framework that models the transmission processes for each user type, we derive the theoretical average AoI. Our results show that the direct user benefits most from nonrelay and non-ARQ strategies, similar to single-hop systems. In contrast, the relay-assisted user achieves optimal performance with truncated-ARQ-at-relay, leveraging both direct and relay-assisted links. For the overall system, applying a non-ARQ-at-relay approach strikes a balance in AoI between the direct and relay-assisted users, leading to a more stable and lower system-wide average AoI.