Abstract
Relay-assisted network-coding (RANC) automatic repeat request (ARQ) protocols are ARQ protocols that leverage both opportunistic retransmission and network coding. This paper proposes an RANC ARQ protocol, called the decode-and-cooperate (DC) protocol, which can readily integrate space-time cooperation. The closed-form formulas for saturation throughput, segment delay, and buffer occupancy are derived for DC in slotted wireless relay networks. Extensive analysis and simulation results, which validate each other, confirm that compared to a stop-and-wait cooperative ARQ protocol, DC achieves significant performance gains in terms of throughput and delay. © 2002-2012 IEEE.