Selection of an optimum protocol for a VSAT wide area network

Describes a study of the design of an efficient multiple access protocol for a very small aperture terminal (VSAT) based wide area network (WAN) called CODE; an experimental data distribution system to be run in conjunction with the OLYMPUS satellite. The performance of the first generation protocols, namely Pure Aloha, Slotted Aloha, Selective Reject Aloha (SREJ Aloha) and Demand Assigned Multiple Access (DAMA), are analysed with respect to CODE´s requirements. These are then compared to the Single Channel per Carrier/Sequential Access (SCPC/Sequential Access) protocol, which is shown to have a superior performance. SCPC/Sequential Access supports larger VSAT networks with lower pack delay times for file transfer operations