Analysis of capture and multi-packet reception on the AIS satellite system

In this paper, we discuss the impact of the capture effect and multi-user detection on the reception of automatic identification system messages at the satellite. Resorting to simple yet beneficial tools such as the multi-packet reception matrix and the random access approximation of the medium access layer, an insightful model is presented. A comparison with the destructive collision model is also carried out and performance evaluation with vessel distribution and vessel speed distribution gathered from real data are derived. The more realistic physical layer improves the results accuracy and provides tradeoffs and future research directions.