Common channel priority acknowledgement schemes for carrier sense cable systems

Two techniques that prioritize the common channel acknowledgment traffic are proposed and analyzed for packet switched cable systems that use carrier-sense multiple-access (CSMA) protocols. Closed-form expressions for the packet interdeparture time moment generating functions of both priority acknowledgement schemes are obtained, under a Poisson arrival model, to facilitate the performance comparisons with respect to the channel throughput and output variation coefficient. A generic p-persistent carrier-sense protocol is utilized to unify the treatments of the nonpersistent and 1-persistent CSMA protocols. A statistical test procedure is also introduced to evaluate the appropriateness of the Poisson arrival model. Slotted operation and nonslotted operation are treated, along with the use of collision detection (CD)