Delay analysis of a satellite channel reservation system with variable frame format

The paper deals with a satellite channel reservation system with variable frame format. The operating scheme of the system is as follows. The current queue length at each user is reported through minislots in the up-link header to a satellite having processing capability. The satellite broadcasts slot assignments for transmission in the next frame to users through the down-link header, based on the users´ reported queue status. The number of data slots per frame varies, depending on the users´ reported queue status. A Markov-chain model is presented to analyse the average total delay of the system. Numerical results are given to compare the delay of the system with the delay of TDMA and reservation systems with fixed frame format. It is shown that the system provides a better delay/throughput performance than these other systems over a wide range of traffic intensities. Moreover, the delay curve of the system is relatively flat up to a traffic intensity of about 0.8.