Enhanced Cellular Coverage and Throughput using Rateless Codes

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates that rateless codes significantly improve cellular network throughput and coverage compared to fixed-rate codes, especially under Rayleigh fading conditions, through analytical modeling and simulations.

Contribution

It introduces an accurate approximation for packet transmission time with rateless codes in cellular networks and compares their performance with fixed-rate codes using stochastic geometry.

Findings

Rateless codes offer substantial throughput gains over fixed-rate codes.

The benefits of rateless coding extend to all users, not just typical users.

Analytical models align well with simulation results.

Abstract

Rateless codes have been shown to provide robust error correction over a wide range of binary and noisy channels. Using a stochastic geometry model, this paper studies the performance of rateless codes in the cellular downlink and compares it with the performance of fixed-rate codes. For the case of Rayleigh fading, an accurate approximation is proposed for the distribution of the packet transmission time of $K$-bit information packets using rateless codes. The two types of channel coding schemes are compared by evaluating the typical user and per-user success probability and the rate. Based on both the analytical results and simulations, the paper shows that rateless coding provides a significant throughput gain relative to fixed-rate coding. Moreover the benefit is not restricted to the typical user but applies to all users in the cellular network.