Near optimal behaviour of the packet switching broadcast channel

The subject of this paper is an adaptive control procedure for stabilizing and optimizing the performance of ALOHA-like slotted packet switching channels. We prove sufficient conditions, via a mathematical model of the adaptive procedure,under which the procedure stabilizes the channel. This procedure is based on "listening" to the silent periods of the channel and modifying the retransmission probabilities of the blocked terminals as a function of this measurement. The optimal choice of the parameters of the adaptive procedure is analysed and simulation results are given in order to illustrate its practical effect.