Maximization of the channel utilization in wireless heterogeneous multiaccess networks

The key aspect of personal communication services (PCS) is wireless access through local and wide area networks where there may exist a variety of services having different rates and diverse quality-of-service (QOS) requirements. This paper addresses the problem of maximizing the channel utilization in a wireless heterogeneous network with finite population. Slotted ALOHA with packet capture is used as the multiaccess protocol in the presence of background noise and Rayleigh fading. It is known that the capture effect, while significantly increasing the network throughput, causes unfairness among users in a heterogeneous network. To take fairness into consideration, individual throughput is used as the constraint with the channel utilization being the maximization objective. The maximization problem is then studied under various conditions by controlling the transmission power and/or probability. It is shown that for a narrow-band system under equal individual throughput requirement, transmission probability control is more effective than power control, and when a joint control strategy is employed, perfect or near perfect channel utilization can be achieved in the absence or presence of Rayleigh fading.