ARQ-M, short for Automatic Repeat reQuest, Multiplex, is a radio telegraphy protocol used to reliably forward telex messages over partially reliable radio links. It is a low-speed system designed to match the performance of landline telex systems and allow those messages to be forwarded over long distances using shortwave radios. The first ARQ-M link was built in the Netherlands, and began exchanging messages with a counterpart in New York in 1947. ARQ-M is similar in concept to ARQ-E, but ARQ-E has no multiplex capability and uses a different 7-bit alphabet.
History The telex system, which developed out of the telegraph system, is based on defined electric current levels that are interpreted as a mark or space signal. These are normally sent over well-defined networks with considerable infrastructure that keeps error rates very low. In contrast, radio communications are subject to a wide variety of noises and other signal problems that leads to losses. To forward telex messages successfully over radio links, some form of error correction should be applied. ARQ-M was developed to automatically deal with errors. The automatic repeat request system was invented by Hendrik van Duuren of the Netherlands in the 1940s and so it became known as the Van Duuren automatic error correction system. The seven unit code used was called the Van Duuren code. ARQ was first used commercially in 1947 with a link from Amsterdam to New York with the master station in Amsterdam. In May 1950 the TEX (Overseas teleprinter exchange) service between New York and Amsterdam started. TEX was an early name for TELEX which is a system to allow automatic routing of private messages from a sender to a receiver on the TELEX network. Prior to the introduction or ARQ-M there were so many errors in the messages received that staff from the telecommunications companies had to manually check messages and confirm correct receipt. Once ARQ-M was introduced, messages could be automatically and reliably sent over long distances via shortwave radio, and so was introduced into automatic systems. By 1956 ARQ radio circuits were running from New York to Amsterdam, Berne, Brussels, Frankfurt, London, Paramaribo, Paris, Rome, and Wien, with plans for Copenhagen, Lisbon, Madrid, and Oslo. Amsterdam had radio links to Berne, Curaçao, Jakarta, Paramaribo and Rome. Brussels linked to Leopoldville. Frankfurt was connected to Madrid and Rome with plans for Buenos Aires. A link from Madrid to Canary Islands was planned. By 1959 most radio circuits for Telex were using ARQ. International shortwave ARQ data links have been replaced by undersea cables and satellite circuits. The New Zealand Post Office used a two channel multiplex ARQ system to communicate on two circuits between Wellington and Vancouver and Sydney over shortwave radio for a few years till 1961. The radio link was available for 22 or 23 hours a day, and could improve the error rate from 1% to 0.001%. In 1961 the radio system became a backup for the primary Commonwealth Pacific Cable System (COMPAC) undersea cable, with telegraph operations conducted using voice frequency telegraphy over telephone channels instead. The Department of Transport in Australia used to run several multiplexed ARQ data links to remote airports prior to the use of AUSSAT. These were calls the aeronautical fixed teletype network. It was used to communicate aeronautical and meteorological data. A station at Perth, VZPH and VKP communicated with Cocos Island VZCC, Port Hedland VZPD, Darwin VZPM, and Sydney VZSY. The stations in Sydney (Pernrith Rx, Llandilo Tx) communicated with Alice Springs, VZAS, Mount Isa, VZMA, Norfolk Island VZNF, and Lord Howe Island, VZLH. International radioteletype links connected Sydney (as VLS3) to Singapore on 9ME and Jakarta 8BB. Radio Corporation of America, who were the first in USA to use ARQ-M, named their ARQ equipment "automatic error reduction and correction equipment". By 1990 use of ARQ-M had reduced. However it was still used by French Forces to communicate between Paris, and N'Djamena, Djibouti, Port de France, Papeete, Dakar, Port-Bouët, Le Port, Reunion. One link ran between Companhia Portuguesa Radio Marconi in Lisbon and the Vatican. The British Royal Army, Navy and Air force still used it from England and Gibraltar. Moscow had a link with Kabul, Havana and Hanoi. ASECNA had a network of west African airports. Moroni in the Comoros has a link to Paris, Stockholm had a link to Ho Chi Minh City, and Brussels had a link to Kinshasa. Canadian armed forces used shortwave radio as satellite links into the Arctic are difficult. Martin-de-Viviès, and Port-aux-Français connected back to France for Direction des Telecommunications des Reseaux Exterieurs. On 17 November 2005 the European patent office rejected an appeal about overturned patent number 0309763 from NEC which attempted to patent a multiplexing system, after they agreed that it did not add anything new beyond European patent 0099101 A and the Siemens Elmux 1000.
Description ARQ-M is a duplex radio communications protocol used to ensure that data is transmitted correctly over a partially unreliable radio path. Data is encoded using 7 unit binary codes sent using a seven bit error detecting code called Van Duuren code or CCITT Telegraph Alphabet No. 3. The data is sent in two channels labelled A and B, or four channels labeled A, B, C and D. Data from the different channels are interleaved using a time division multiplex system. The two channel system is called ARQ-M2, the four channel system is called ARQ-M4. In order to synchronise to the synchronous data stream the encoded characters can be sent erect or inverted. Inverted means that the 0 and 1 are swapped, whereas erect means that the character is sent without modification. There are two possible channel arrangements depending on the latency of the circuit. For normal latency the cycle consists of four characters, and if the channel has extra long latency it has eight characters. Channel A (or C) has one character inverted followed by either three or seven erect characters. Channel B (or D) has one character erect followed by either three or seven inverted characters.
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