A markovian ROHC control mechanism based on transport block link model in LTE networks

In many packet-switched wireless systems including cellular networks, RObust Header Compression (ROHC) plays an important role in improving payload efficiency by reducing the number of header bits in a link session. However, there are only very few research works addressing the optimized control of ROHC. Our recent studies have demonstrated the advantage of a trans-layer ROHC design that exploits lower layer link status. We have presented a unidirectional ROHC design based on a partially observable Markov decision process formulation that enables the transmitter to decide the header compression level without receiver feedback. The present work considers the physical channel dynamics in an LTE environment and how they affect header decompressor status. Our new model takes into consideration the transport block (TBs) size defined in LTE transmission according to the modulation and coding scheme (MCS). Our novel and practical model can significantly improve the efficiency of the transmission when compared to a traditional timer-based ROHC control.