Coding and stability in frequency-hop packet radio networks

Abstract

A fully connected radio network is considered in which packets are sent using slow frequency-hop (FH) modulation, slotted ALOHA random access, and Reed-Solomon (RS) error-control coding. For this network, the dependence of throughput, delay, and drift on the code rate and block length is examined. It is shown that the drift approaches a simple limiting form as the block length becomes large. This form suggests that, in a bistable FH network, the undesirable stable point can usually be eliminated without increasing the delay or reducing the throughput at the desirable stable point. In particular, bistability can be eliminated by increasing the code block length and retransmission delay, and does not require the use of decentralized control or channel traffic estimates.