Hybrid-ARQ scheme using different TCM for retransmission

A new hybrid automatic repeat-request (ARQ) scheme that uses supplementary trellis codes for retransmission is described. In this scheme, supplementary codes are designed to compensate for the squared free distance (d/sub free//sup 2/) of the trellis code used for the previous transmission. Differently encoded codewords are combined and decoded by the same Viterbi decoder at the receiver. This scheme provides improved (d/sub free//sup 2/) upon retransmission compared with that provided by the conventional trellis coded hybrid-ARQ scheme where the same coding scheme is used for all transmissions.