Optical CDMA random access protocols with and without pretransmission coordination

The link layer of an optical direct-detection code-division multiple-access (CDMA) packet network is considered. Two different protocols that need pretransmission coordination are proposed. A variation of the second protocol that does not need pretransmission coordination is discussed. Both system throughput and average packet delay are derived and investigated for two different receiver models: the correlation and chip-level receivers. Both multiple-access interference and the photodetector's shot noise are taken into account in the analysis. The case where the number of users exceeds the available number of CDMA codes is numerically investigated. Our results reveal that the proposed protocols yield competitive system throughputs when used with the correlation receivers. Further, significant improvement in the throughput is achieved when using chip-level receivers along with the second protocol.