Impact of adaptive array architectures on S-ALOHA protocol performance

We evaluate the influence of several antenna array topologies and channel models on the performance of a S-ALOHA MAC based network equipped with a smart antenna system at the base station. Two transmission scenarios are considered: an environment without angular dispersion and another where the angular spread is higher. Important behaviour differences between the two scenarios are observed when the network comes from an underloaded region to an overloaded one. A successive interference cancellation algorithm is used as a mean of enhancing network throughput in the overloaded regions.