  We consider a linear multi-hop network composed of multi-state discrete-time
memoryless channels over each hop, with orthogonal time-sharing across hops
under a half-duplex relaying protocol. We analyze the probability of error and
associated reliability function \cite{Gallager68} over the multi-hop network;
with emphasis on random coding and sphere packing bounds, under the assumption
of point-to-point coding over each hop. In particular, we define the system
reliability function for the multi-hop network and derive lower and upper
bounds on this function to specify the reliability-optimal operating conditions
of the network under an end-to-end constraint on the total number of channel
uses. Moreover, we apply the reliability analysis to bound the expected
end-to-end latency of multi-hop communication under the support of an automatic
repeat request (ARQ) protocol. Considering an additive white Gaussian noise
(AWGN) channel model over each hop, we evaluate and compare these bounds to
draw insights on the role of multi-hopping toward enhancing the end-to-end
rate-reliability-delay tradeoff.
