Stability of a type-II hybrid ARQ protocol for DS-SSMA packet radio systems

The stability of a slotted direct-sequence spread-spectrum multiple-access (DS-SSMA) packet radio network employing a type-II hybrid automatic-repeat-request (ARQ) protocol is considered. The equilibrium point analysis (EPA) technique is employed to approximately compute the system throughput and delay, and to analyze the system stability. It is found that the system exhibits bistable behavior in some situations. With this information, a desirable region of operation for the DS-SSMA network employing the type-II hybrid ARQ protocol is obtained.