A control-centralised framed-ALOHA with capture for LEO satellite communications

A robust centralised transmission control policy of framed-ALOHA protocols is presented for low Earth orbit (LEO) satellite store-and-forward communications. This first-order recursive control is capable of maintaining the offered traffic load at nearly constant, optimal level, basing upon maximum likelihood estimate (MLE) of the offered load in the presence of packet capture effect. An infinite population of users and a finite backlog are used in analysis. Dynamics of the framed-ALOHA protocols under this control policy are thoroughly examined, assuming input load to be time varying with a satellite flying overhead around the Earth. Analysis and simulation show that the control policy performs very well, even when the input load dramatically changes from time to time.