Stability Region of a Slotted Aloha Network with K-Exponential Backoff

Stability region of random access wireless networks is known for only simple network scenarios. The main problem in this respect is due to interaction among queues. When transmission probabilities during successive transmissions change, e.g., when exponential backoff mechanism is exploited, the interactions in the network are stimulated. In this paper, we derive the stability region of a buffered slotted Aloha network with K-exponential backoff mechanism, approximately, when a finite number of nodes exist. To this end, we propose a new approach in modeling the interaction among wireless nodes. In this approach, we model the network with inter-related quasi-birth-death (QBD) processes such that at each QBD corresponding to each node, a finite number of phases consider the status of the other nodes. Then, by exploiting the available theorems on stability of QBDs, we find the stability region. We show that exponential backoff mechanism is able to increase the area of the stability region of a simple slotted Aloha network with two nodes, more than 40\%. We also show that a slotted Aloha network with exponential backoff may perform very near to ideal scheduling. The accuracy of our modeling approach is verified by simulation in different conditions.Comment: 30 pages, 6 figure

Goodbye, ALOHA!

©2016 IEEE. Personal use of this material is permitted. Permission from IEEE must be obtained for all other uses, in any current or future media, including reprinting/republishing this material for advertising or promotional purposes, creating new collective works, for resale or redistribution to servers or lists, or reuse of any copyrighted component of this work in other works.The vision of the Internet of Things (IoT) to interconnect and Internet-connect everyday people, objects, and machines poses new challenges in the design of wireless communication networks. The design of medium access control (MAC) protocols has been traditionally an intense area of research due to their high impact on the overall performance of wireless communications. The majority of research activities in this field deal with different variations of protocols somehow based on ALOHA, either with or without listen before talk, i.e., carrier sensing multiple access. These protocols operate well under low traffic loads and low number of simultaneous devices. However, they suffer from congestion as the traffic load and the number of devices increase. For this reason, unless revisited, the MAC layer can become a bottleneck for the success of the IoT. In this paper, we provide an overview of the existing MAC solutions for the IoT, describing current limitations and envisioned challenges for the near future. Motivated by those, we identify a family of simple algorithms based on distributed queueing (DQ), which can operate for an infinite number of devices generating any traffic load and pattern. A description of the DQ mechanism is provided and most relevant existing studies of DQ applied in different scenarios are described in this paper. In addition, we provide a novel performance evaluation of DQ when applied for the IoT. Finally, a description of the very first demo of DQ for its use in the IoT is also included in this paper.Peer ReviewedPostprint (author's final draft