Retransmission performance in a stochastic geometric cellular network model

Suppose sender–receiver transmission links in a downlink network at a given data rate are subject to fading, path loss, and inter-cell interference, and that transmissions either pass, suffer loss, or incur retransmission delay. We introduce a method to obtain the average activity level of the system required for handling the buffered work and from this derive the resulting coverage probability and key performance measures. The technique involves a family of stationary buffer distributions which is used to solve iteratively a nonlinear balance equation for the unknown busy-link probability and then identify throughput, loss probability, and delay. The results allow for a straightforward numerical investigation of performance indicators, are in special cases explicit and may be easily used to study the trade-off between reliability, latency, and data rate.