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Automatic repeat request (ARQ), also known as automatic repeat query, is an error-control method for data transmission that uses acknowledgements (messages sent by the receiver indicating that it has correctly received a message) and timeouts (specified periods of time allowed to elapse before an acknowledgment is to be received) to achieve reliable data transmission over an unreliable communication channel. ARQ is appropriate if the communication channel has varying or unknown capacity. If the sender does not receive an acknowledgment before the timeout, it re-transmits the message until it receives an acknowledgment or exceeds a predefined number of retransmissions.
Variations of ARQ protocols include Stop-and-wait ARQ, Go-Back-N ARQ, and Selective Repeat ARQ. All three protocols usually use some form of sliding window protocol to help the sender determine which (if any) packets need to be retransmitted. These protocols reside in the data link or transport layers (layers 2 and 4) of the OSI model.