Performance Evaluation of the IEEE 802.16 ARQ Mechanism

The IEEE 802.16 standard defines the ARQ mechanism as a part of the MAC layer. The functioning of the ARQ mechanism depends on a number of parameters. The IEEE 802.16 specification defines them but it does not provide concrete values and solutions. This paper studies the key features and parameters of the 802.16 ARQ mechanism. In particular, we consider a choice for the ARQ feedback type, an algorithm to build block sequences, the ARQ feedback intensity, a scheduling of the ARQ feedbacks and retransmissions, the ARQ block rearrangement, ARQ transmission window and the ARQ block size. We ran simulation scenarios to study these parameters and how they impact the performance of application protocols. The simulation results reveal that the ARQ mechanism and its correct configuration play an important role in achieving reliable data transmission.