Multiple Access Protocols: Performance and Analysis (Telecommunication Networks and Computer Systems)

Computer communication networks have come of age. Today, there is hardly any professional, particularly in engineering, that has not been the user of such a network. This proliferation requires the thorough understanding of the behavior of networks by those who are responsible for their operation as well as by those whose task it is to design such networks. This is probably the reason for the large number of books, monographs, and articles treating relevant issues, problems, and solutions in this field. Among all computer network architectures, those based on broadcast mul­ tiple access channels stand out in their uniqueness. These networks appear naturally in environments requiring user mobility where the use of any fixed wiring is impossible and a wireless channel is the only available option. Because of their desirable characteristics multiple access networks are now used even in environments where a wired point-to-point network could have been installed. The understanding of the operation of multiple access network through their performance analysis is the focus of this book. This book focuses on the analysis of multiaccess communication systems that include both local area and radio networks. Because the field of computer communication networks has progressed immensely in recent years, most material in this volume has, so far, only been covered in a limited form mostly without a thorough analysis or has never appeared except scattered in specialized professional journals. This book, for the first time, collects all these topics and presents them in a unified and uniform framework. The subjects covered in the volume were chosen judiciously. Each subsection presents a communication system that differs in nature from the others in the system characteristic, the purpose of the system, or the method of analysis. Via this approach the authors have succeeded in covering all types of multiaccess systems and most of the analytical methods used in their analysis. An extensive bibliography is attached to enhance its use as a reference for professionals. For the teacher and student, a fair number of nontrivial exercises are included Front Matter....Pages i-viii Introduction....Pages 1-7 Conflict-Free Access Protocols....Pages 9-45 Aloha Protocols....Pages 47-77 Carrier Sensing Protocols....Pages 79-106 Collision Resolution Protocols....Pages 107-147 Additional Topics....Pages 149-151 Back Matter....Pages 153-177