Layer 3 Throughput Analysis for Advanced ALOHA Protocols

Abstract

Random Access (RA) Medium Access (MAC) protocols are simple and effective when the nature of the traffic is impulsive and unpredictable. Recently, evolutions of RA have shown impressive improvements in the throughput, but no investigation on the impact on the higher layers has been carried out, at the best of our knowledge. The objective of the paper is to investigate recently presented RA solutions in terms of layer 3 throughput when generic packet length distribution is considered. The definition of layer 3 throughput is presented for both slotted and non slotted protocols. In the latter case, a comprehensive analytical framework is developed, where different levels of knowledge of the packet distribution are considered. The results show that non slotted protocols that use Forward Error Correction (FEC) schemes are able to outperform slotted protocols under the same conditions. On the other hand, the layer 3 throughput of non slotted protocols is more sensitive to changes in the form of the packet length distribution than in slotted protocols.