Method of operating a communication system

Method of operating a communication system that comprises a master node (MN) and at least two slave nodes (SN1-SN4) and is operated in a time-division multiplexing technique, wherein

• the communication is carried out in consecutive time frames, which each comprise at least one transmission subframe (TSF) and at least one auxiliary subframe (ASF) which is scheduled after the transmission subframe (TSF);
• wherein the transmission subframe (TSF) comprises at least one downlink slot (DS) for transmission of downlink data packets (DDP) from the master node (MN) to the slave nodes (SN1-SN4), and at least one uplink slot (US1-US4) for transmission of uplink data packets (UDP) from each of the slave nodes (SN1-SN4) to the master node (MN);
• wherein the master node (MN) sends downlink data packets (DDP) to all or at least a subset of the slave nodes (SN1-SN4) during the downlink slot (DS), and each of the slave nodes (SN1-SN4) sends at least one uplink data packet (UDP) to the master node (MN) during its respective uplink slot (US1-US4);
• wherein the master node (MN) evaluates the uplink data packets (UDP) that were received from the slave nodes (SN1-SN4) during the uplink slots (US1-US4) of the transmission subframe (TSF), and generates a re-transmission schedule (RTS) that defines a re-transmission of uplink and/or downlink data packets (UDP, DDP) in the auxiliary subframe (ASF) in case of an unsuccessful reception of due uplink data packets (UDP) from slave nodes (SN1-SN4) in the respective uplink slot (US1-US4) or in case that uplink data packets (UDP) received from the slave nodes (SN1-SN4) indicate an unsuccessful reception of downlink data packets (DDP) during the previous downlink slot (DS);
• wherein prior to the first re-transmission of uplink and/or downlink data packets (UDP, DDP) in the auxiliary subframe (ASF), the master node (MN) broadcasts the re-transmission schedule (RTS) to the slave nodes (SN1-SN4);
• and
• wherein characterized in that each of the slave nodes (SN1-SN4) determines channel quality data with respect to data packets received from each of the other slave nodes (SN1-SN4) as well as from the master node (MN), and transmits the quality data to the master node (MN) during its uplink slot (US1-US4).