Stability of Finite-User Slotted ALOHA Under Partial Interference in Wireless Mesh Networks

We study the stability of finite-user infinite-buffer slotted ALOHA with partial interference. For the case of two users, there is a gradual, transition from the collision channel to the orthogonal channel when the link separation increases. The stability region can be either convex or nonconvex, depending on the link separation and the transmission probability vector. A partial characterization on the boundary of the stability region in closed form for the case of general number of users is also given. We hope this work can provide insight in designing traffic engineering algorithms in wireless mesh networks with practical random access protocols like 802.11.