Analysis of a Two-Hop Centralized Packet Radio Network - Part I: Slotted ALOHA

The design of packet radio systems involves a large number of design variables that interact in a very complex fashion. As this design problem in its general form is quite complex, a viable approach is to analyze some simple but typical configurations in an attempt to understand the behavior of these systems. In this paper, a two-hop centralized configuration is considered in which traffic originates at terminals, is destined to a central station, and requires for its transport the relaying of packets by store-and-forward repeaters. The through-put-delay performance is derived, and its dependence on such key system variables as the network topology, the transmission protocol, and the repeaters' storage capacities, is given. In this part, devices are assumed to be utilizing the slotted ALOHA access mode. Carrier sense multiple access is treated in Part II of this series [1].