This paper considers the slotted ALOHA protocol in a communication channel shared by N users. It is assumed that the channel has the multiple-packet reception (MPR) capability that allows the correct reception of up to M ( @math ) time-overlapping packets. To evaluate the reliability in the scenario that a packet needs to be transmitted within a strict delivery deadline D ( @math ) (in unit of slot) since its arrival at the head of queue, we consider the successful delivery probability (SDP) of a packet as performance metric of interest. We derive the optimal transmission probability that maximizes the SDP for any @math and any @math , and show it can be computed by a fixed-point iteration. In particular, the case for D = 1 (i.e., throughput maximization) is first completely addressed in this paper. Based on these theoretical results, for real-life scenarios where N may be unknown and changing, we develop a distributed algorithm that enables each user to tune its transmission probability at runtime according to the estimate of N. Simulation results show that the proposed algorithm is effective in dynamic scenarios, with near-optimal performance.
 This paper considers random access protocols with multipacket reception (MPR), which include both slotted-Aloha and slotted τ-persistent CSMA protocols. For both protocols, each node makes a transmission attempt in a slot with a given probability. The goals of this paper are to derive the optimal transmission probability maximizing a system throughput for both protocols and to develop a simple random access protocol with MPR, which achieves a system throughput close to the maximum value. To this end, we first obtain the optimal transmission probability of a node in the slotted-Aloha protocol. The result provides a useful guideline to help us develop a simple distributed algorithm for estimating the number of active nodes. We then obtain the optimal transmission probability in the τ-persistent CSMA protocol. An in-depth study on the relation between the optimal transmission probabilities in both protocols shows that under certain conditions the optimal transmission probability in the slotted-Aloha protocol is a good approximation for the τ-persistent CSMA protocol. Based on this result, we propose a simple τ-persistent CSMA protocol with MPR which dynamically adjusts the transmission probability τ depending on the estimated number of active nodes, and thus can achieve a system throughput close to the maximum value. With the rapid proliferation of broadband wireless services, it is of paramount importance to understand how fast data can be sent through a wireless local area network (WLAN). Thanks to a large body of research following the seminal work of Bianchi, WLAN throughput under saturated traffic condition has been well understood. By contrast, prior investigations on throughput performance under unsaturated traffic condition was largely based on phenomenological observations, which lead to a common misconception that WLAN can support a traffic load as high as saturation throughput, if not higher, under nonsaturation condition. In this paper, we show through rigorous analysis that this misconception may result in unacceptable quality of service: mean packet delay and delay jitter may approach infinity even when the traffic load is far below the saturation throughput. Hence, saturation throughput is not a sound measure of WLAN capacity under nonsaturation condition. To bridge the gap, we define safe-bounded-mean-delay (SBMD) throughput and safe-bounded-delay-jitter (SBDJ) throughput that reflect the actual network capacity users can enjoy when they require finite mean delay and delay jitter, respectively. Our earlier work proved that in a WLAN with multi-packet reception (MPR) capability, saturation throughput scales superlinearly with the MPR capability of the network. This paper extends the investigation to the nonsaturation case and shows that superlinear scaling also holds for SBMD and SBDJ throughputs. Our results here complete the demonstration of MPR as a powerful capacity-enhancement technique for WLAN under both saturation and nonsaturation conditions. In this paper a new multiple access scheme dubbed contention resolution diversity slotted ALOHA (CRDSA) is introduced and its performance and implementation are thoroughly analyzed. The scheme combines diversity transmission of data bursts with efficient interference cancellation techniques. It is shown that CRDSA largely outperforms the classical lotted ALOHA (SA) technique in terms of throughput under equal packet loss ratio conditions (e.g. 17-fold improvement at packet loss ratio = 2 middot 10-2). CRDSA allows to boost the performance of random access (RA) channels in the return link of interactive satellite networks, making RA very efficient and providing low latency for the transmission of small size sparse packets. Implementation-wise it is shown that the CRDSA technique can be easily integrated in systems equipped with digital burst demodulators. Due to its simplicity and cost efficiency, wireless local area network (WLAN) enjoys unique advantages in providing high-speed and low-cost wireless services in hot spots and indoor environments. Traditional WLAN medium-access-control (MAC) protocols assume that only one station can transmit at a time: simultaneous transmissions of more than one station cause the destruction of all packets involved. By exploiting recent advances in PHY-layer multiuser detection (MUD) techniques, it is possible for a receiver to receive multiple packets simultaneously. This paper argues that such multipacket reception (MPR) capability can greatly enhance the capacity of future WLANs. In addition, the paper provides the MAC-layer and PHY-layer designs needed to achieve the improved capacity. First, to demonstrate MPR as a powerful capacity-enhancement technique, we prove a "superlinearityrdquo result, which states that the system throughput per unit cost increases as the MPR capability increases. Second, we show that the commonly deployed binary exponential backoff (BEB) algorithm in today's WLAN MAC may not be optimal in an MPR system, and the optimal backoff factor increases with the MPR capability, the number of packets that can be received simultaneously. Third, based on the above insights, we design a joint MAC-PHY layer protocol for an IEEE 802.11-like WLAN that incorporates advanced PHY-layer signal processing techniques to implement MPR.