An ARQ Scheme with Memory and Soft Error Detectors

This paper describes a technique for increasing the efficiency of an ARQ communication system utilizing error detection codes. In this technique the blocks containing errors are not discarded at the receiver, as in the conventional ARQ systems. Such blocks are retained in order to make use of the information contained in them. A reliability value is associated to each demodulated symbol; this reliability value is updated every time a new retransmission is made, even if the vector received is in error. The process of updating the symbols often eliminates automatically the errors introduced by the channel. The results obtained by means of a simulation show that this method offers a considerable reduction in the average number of retransmissions, in comparison with conventional ARQ systems