The controlled-SRMA protocol for packet satellite communication

A multiaccess protocol for satellite communication called controlled scheduled retransmitted multiaccess (C-SRMA) is introduced and analyzed. This protocol uses reserved slot headers for transmission reservation in addition to ALOHA slots for retransmission reservation. This makes the protocol behave like a reservation protocol under heavy traffic conditions and ALOHA protocol under light traffic conditions. A control parameter f is used to control the packet transmission rates adaptively so that the delay is always minimum for a given throughput. Two versions of the protocol (fixed frame and dynamic frame) are analyzed. C-SMRA gives an average delay smaller than slotted ALOHA even when the throughput is as low as 0.05. Under heavy traffic condition, C-SRMA can provide a throughput close to unity with a minimum amount of minislot overhead and average delay not much more than one round-trip propagation delay