Delay on broadcast erasure channels under random linear combinations

Abstract

We consider a transmitter broadcasting random linear combinations (over a field of size $d$) formed from a block of $c$ packets to a collection of $n$ receivers, where the channels between the transmitter and each receiver are independent erasure channels with reception probabilities $\mathbf{q} = (q_1,\ldots,q_n)$. We establish several properties of the random delay until all $n$ receivers have recovered all $c$ packets, denoted $Y_{n:n}^{(c)}$. First, we provide lower and upper bounds, exact expressions, and a recurrence for the moments of $Y_{n:n}^{(c)}$. Second, we study the delay per packet $Y_{n:n}^{(c)}/c$ as a function of $c$, including the asymptotic delay (as $c \to \infty$), and monotonicity (in $c$) properties of the delay per packet. Third, we employ extreme value theory to investigate $Y_{n:n}^{(c)}$ as a function of $n$ (as $n \to \infty$). Several results are new, some results are extensions of existing results, and some results are proofs of known results using new (probabilistic) proof techniques.