Channel quality measurement in data transmission using hybrid arq

Abstract

A hybrid ARQ technique for transmitting a data unit on a radio channel in a communication system to a receiver is provided, wherein after the encoding the data unit into a sequence of code words using an encoding parameter, a first code word is transmitted, and an ACK or NAK is received from the receiver. If a NAK is received, the next code word of the sequence is transmitted. A measurement value indicating the current channel conditions is determined by counting the NAK messages and/or evaluating the encoding parameters. The measurement values may be the overall coding rate, the average number of retransmissions per data unit, or the average number of retransmissions per code word. The transmitter may include a NAK counter. The measurement may be used for adaptation purposes.

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