🤖 AI Summary
Achieving ultra-reliable, low-latency end-to-end (E2E) communication in 6G multi-hop wireless networks under finite blocklength (FBL) constraints remains challenging.
Method: This paper proposes a Dynamic Multi-hop Hybrid ARQ (DMH-HARQ) mechanism. It introduces the first FBL-based analytical model and joint optimization of E2E reliability for multi-hop decode-and-forward (DF) relaying. A resource allocation algorithm based on integer dynamic programming is designed, integrating network virtualization and the O-RAN open architecture to enable dynamic scheduling.
Contribution/Results: DMH-HARQ overcomes the performance limitations of conventional static HARQ and listen-before-talk cooperative ARQ schemes. Under strict latency constraints, it significantly improves E2E reliability—especially in long-distance, multi-hop scenarios—without requiring additional delay adaptation. Moreover, it natively supports open RAN architectures, ensuring seamless integration with emerging 6G network designs.
📝 Abstract
The extreme requirements for high reliability and low latency in the upcoming Sixth Generation (6G) wireless networks are challenging the design of multi-hop wireless transport networks. Inspired by the advent of the virtualization concept in the wireless networks design and openness paradigm as fostered by the O-RAN Alliance, we target a revolutionary resource allocation scheme to improve the overall transmission efficiency. In this paper, we investigate the problem of multi-hop decode-and-forward (DF) relaying in the finite blocklength (FBL) regime, and propose a DMH-HARQ scheme, which maximizes the end-to-end (E2E) communication reliability in the wireless transport network. We also propose an integer dynamic programming (DP) algorithm to efficiently solve the optimal DMH-HARQ strategy. Constrained within a certain time frame to accomplish E2E transmission, our proposed approach is proven to outperform the conventional listening-based cooperative ARQ, as well as any static HARQ strategy, regarding the E2E reliability. It is applicable without dependence on special delay constraint, and is particularly competitive for long-distance transport network with many hops.
