Average Link Rate Analysis over Finite Time Horizon in a Wireless Network

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Date

2017-03-30

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Publisher

Virginia Tech

Abstract

Instantaneous and ergodic rates are two of the most commonly used metrics to characterize throughput of wireless networks. Roughly speaking, the former characterizes the rate achievable in a given time slot, whereas the latter is useful in characterizing average rate achievable over a long time period. Clearly, the reality often lies somewhere in between these two extremes. Consequently, in this work, we define and characterize a more realistic N-slot average rate (achievable rate averaged over N time slots). This N-slot average rate metric refines the popular notion of ergodic rate, which is defined under the assumption that a user experiences a complete ensemble of channel and interference conditions in the current session (not always realistic, especially for short-lived sessions).

The proposed metric is used to study the performance of typical nodes in both ad hoc and downlink cellular networks. The ad hoc network is modeled as a Poisson bipolar network with a fixed distance between each transmitter and its intended receiver. The cellular network is also modeled as a homogeneous Poisson point process. For both these setups, we use tools from stochastic geometry to derive the distribution of N-slot average rate in the following three cases: (i) rate across N time slots is completely correlated, (ii) rate across N time slots is independent and identically distributed, and (iii) rate across N time slots is partially correlated. While the reality is close to third case, the exact characterization of the first two extreme cases exposes certain important design insights.

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Keywords

Ad hoc network, cellular network, Poisson point process, stochastic geometry, average rate

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