Opportunistic File Transfer over a Fading Channel: A POMDP Search Theory Formulation with Optimal Threshold Policies

Abstract

We present a computationally efficient algorithm that minimizes the transmission energy and latency associated with transmitting a file across a Gilbert Elliott fading channel. We formulate the optimal tradeoff between transmission energy and latency as a partially observed Markov decision process problem (POMDP). The channel state is not directly observed and hence transmission decisions must be based on ACK/NAK information provided over a feedback channel. The key idea is to reformulate the resulting POMDP as a Markovian search problem, with optimal transmission control policies that are threshold in nature. Threshold policies are computationally inexpensive to implement. Our analysis show..