A comparison between multi-service MAC protocols employing Q-ary contention resolution algorithms including msSTART under a disaster scenario

Many modern multi-service medium access protocols (MAC) use a collision-based capacity request signaling channel as part of a hybrid TDMA frame structure. This paper together with Cameron et al. (1999), develops a comparison of simple candidate contention resolution algorithms (CRA) against the performance of more sophisticated algorithms under a disaster scenario. We aim to compare the performance of the multi-slot stack random access algorithm (msSTART) against other more basic examples of Q-ary tree contention resolution algorithms in the wireless environment using the novel basic deadlock model. msSTART is proposed for use in the IEEE 802.14 hybrid fiber/coaxial network and will be highly relevant for the supervisory medium access control (S-MAC) development of evolving wireless asynchronous transfer mode (WATM) and other multi-service wireless MAC specifications. In the paper, approximate results for msSTART performance are obtained by simulation under extreme inter-station correlation to compare with analytical results for the simpler Q-ary blocked tree CRA. Using three signaling channel schemes designed to provide support for increased system stability, implementation of priority in the wireless MAC, or maximize efficiency, we provide comparative results for evaluation of msSTART and the blocked tree under what the IEEE 802.14 working group has termed the 'disaster scenario'. We demonstrate that msSTART is well-suited to the wireless multi-access environment providing equal if not better performance than basic Q-ary algorithms under the disaster scenario as well as standard traffic loads.