Closing the capacity gap in wireless ad hoc networks using multi-packet reception

In this paper, we compute the throughput capacity of random wireless ad hoc networks in which nodes are endowed with multipacket reception (MPR) capabilities. We show that lambda(n) = Theta((R(n))^(1-2/alpha)/n^1/alpha) bits per second constitutes a tight bound for the throughput capacity of random wireless ad hoc networks using physical model, where alpha > 2 is the path loss parameter in the physical model, n is the total number of nodes in the network, and R(n) is the MPR receiver range. Compared to the original result derived for plain routing by Gupta and Kumar, MPR closes the capacity gap and achieves a capacity gain of at least Theta((log n)^{alpha-2/2alpha}) when R(n) = Theta(radiclog n/n).