In group-oriented applications for wireless networks, reliable multicast strategies are important in order to efficiently distribute data, e.g. in Wireless Mesh Networks (WMNs) and Mobile Ad-hoc NETworks (MANETs). To ensure that developed protocols and systems will operate as expected when deployed in the wild, a good understanding of several factors such as packet loss characteristics is necessary. In this paper the correlation of erasures in a cluster of receiving mobile devices is measured and analyzed. In the considered scenario, a source node broadcasts packets to a cluster of receivers located relatively far away. To ensure that the obtained data can easily be applied in analysis, we introduce the textit{cluster erasure transition matrix}. We then analyze a simple broadcast and cooperative scheme, and show that the assumption of independent packet erasures unfairly favors the cooperative scheme according to the obtained measurements.
Translated title of the contribution
The Impact of Packet Loss Behavior in 802.11g on the Cooperation Gain in Reliable Multicast