A Stochastic Model for Age-of-Information Efficiency in ARQ Systems with Energy Harvesting

We elaborate a stochastic model of an automatic repeat request transmission system exploiting energy harvesting. We consider an information source powered by a rechargeable battery exploiting a renewable energy source that is using retransmission-based error control. For this system, the transmission policy that minimizes the age-of-information associated with correctly delivered packets is investigated, also analyzing when it is more convenient to retransmit a data packet whose previous transmission attempt was unsuccessful or to send a new one instead. The model is implemented and solved as a discrete-time finite state Markov chain. The behavior of this process is studied under different parameters to characterize some general rules for this kind of system.