On the Behavior of RObust Header Compression U-mode in Channels with Memory

TL;DR

This paper investigates how Robust Header Compression (ROHC) performs over correlated wireless channels, specifically Gilbert-Elliott channels, using three analytical models validated by real-world implementation, revealing insights into protocol behavior with multiple RTP flows.

Contribution

It introduces three analytical models to analyze ROHC behavior over channels with memory, including single and multiple RTP flow scenarios, validated by real-world data.

Findings

Accurate prediction of ROHC behavior for single RTP flow.

Mathematical relationships explaining qualitative trends.

Validation of models against real-world implementation.

Abstract

The existing studies of RObust Header Compression (ROHC) have provided some understanding for memoryless channel, but the behavior of ROHC for correlated wireless channels is not well investigated in spite of its practical importance. In this paper, the dependence of ROHC against its design parameters for the Gilbert Elliot channel is studied by means of three analytical models. A first more elaborated approach accurately predicts the behavior of the protocol for the single RTP flow profile, while a simpler, analytically tractable model yields clear and insightful mathematical relationships that explain the qualitative trends of ROHC. The results are validated against a real world implementation of this protocol. Moreover, a third model studies also the less conventional yet practically relevant setting of multiple RTP flows.