Code-Rate Selection, Queueing Behavior, and the Correlated Erasure Channel

• Published in: IEEE transactions on information theory Vol. 59; no. 1; pp. 397 - 407
• Main Authors: Parag, P., Chamberland, J., Pfister, H. D., Narayanan, K.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York, NY IEEE 01.01.2013; Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers; The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc. (IEEE)
• Subjects: Applied sciences; Asymptotic properties; Block codes; Blocking; channel models; Channels; Coding theory; Coding, codes; Communication; Communication systems; Correlation; data communication; Delay; Detection, estimation, filtering, equalization, prediction; Encoding; Exact sciences and technology; Guidelines; Information theory; Information, signal and communications theory; Markov processes; Mathematical analysis; Maximum likelihood decoding; queueing analysis; Queues; Queuing; Signal and communications theory; Signal, noise; Systems, networks and services of telecommunications; telecommunication buffers; Telecommunications; Telecommunications and information theory; Transmission and modulation (techniques and equipments); wireless communication; Performance evaluation; Block code; Time variable channel; Parameter estimation; communication systems; Redundancy; Wireless telecommunication; Transfer characteristic; Teletraffic; Delay system; Buffer system; Random codes; wireless communication; channel models; telecommunication buffers; Queueing system; Traffic management; Channel estimation; Telecommunication system; Traffic control; Error correcting code; queueing analysis; Data communication; Block codes
• ISSN: 0018-9448; 1557-9654
• DOI: 10.1109/TIT.2012.2216501

This paper considers the relationship between code-rate selection and queueing performance for communication systems subject to time-varying channel conditions. While error-correcting codes offer protection against channel uncertainties, there exists a natural tradeoff between the enhanced protection of low-rate codes and the rate penalty imposed by additional redundancy. In the limiting regime where codewords are asymptotically long, this tradeoff is well understood and characterized by the Shannon capacity. However, for delay-sensitive communication systems and finite block lengths, a complete characterization of this tradeoff is not fully developed. This paper offers a new perspective on the queueing performance of communication systems with finite block lengths operating over correlated erasure channels. A rigorous framework that links code rate to overall system performance for random codes is presented. Guidelines for code-rate selection in delay-sensitive systems are identified. These findings are supported by a numerical study.