In this paper a Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA) based Random Access (RA)
channel with Successive Interference Cancellation (SIC) is considered for a
finite user population and reliable retransmission mechanism on the basis of
Contention Resolution Diversity Slotted ALOHA (CRDSA). A general mathematical
model based on Markov Chains is derived which makes it possible to predict the
stability regions of SIC-RA channels, the expected delays in equilibrium and
the selection of parameters for a stable channel configuration. Furthermore the
model enables the estimation of the average time before reaching instability.
The presented model is verified against simulations and numerical results are
provided for comparison of the stability of CRDSA versus the stability of
traditional Slotted ALOHA (SA). The presented results show that CRDSA has not
only a high gain over SA in terms of throughput but also in its stability.Comment: 10 pages, 12 figures This paper is submitted to the IEEE Transactions
on Communications for possible publication. The IEEE copyright notice applie
