Performance analysis of a slotted CDMA ALOHA network

Abstract

ALOHA is a simple and efficient way of allowing many machines with bursty data streams to communicate with a central computer. For cases where machines are equally likely to transmit to one another, CDMA ALOHA, which allows for full connectivity, may be a better multiple access protocol than slotted ALOHA through a central machine. This paper first describes a model for a fully connected, full duplex, and slotted CDMA ALOHA network where the “receiver-based code” access protocol is used. The stations can send data to, and receive data from, different stations simultaneously. The model is analyzed using discrete-time Markov chain, and some numerical results are presented. For a system with a large number of users where Markov analysis is impractical, equilibrium point analysis is used to predict the stability of the system and determine the throughput as well as the delay performance of the system when it is stable. It is shown that a CDMA slotted ALOHA network has a much better performance compared to simple slotted ALOHA networks.