Interconnection of single-hop random-access networks

The interconnection of two random-access packet-switched networks is considered. In each network a station, called the bride node, receives internetwork packets from the network users and forwards them to the bridge node of the destination network via a point-to-point link, called the bridge link. The bridge node of the destination network places these internetwork packets in its queue for subsequent transmission to the network users. The bridge nodes are assumed to share the same random-access channel that the users do; this type of multiplexing is referred to as contention multiplexing. Assuming that the input traffic in network i, i=1, 2, is Poisson with intensity λ_i, sufficient conditions are derived for the system stability as it is defined by the set S={(λ₁, λ₂): the packet delay is finite with probability one}