Analysis of finite population buffered slotted ALOHA protocols using tagged user analysis (TUA)

A new approach, called the tagged user analysis, is proposed to analyze slotted ALOHA systems with finite user population having either finite or infinite user buffer capacity. The analysis assuming channel symmetry focuses on an arbitrarily selected user, called the tagged user to analyze overall system performance. The distributions and mean values of waiting time, queue size and interdeparture time are obtained. The proposed approach is general and can be applied to analyses of systems with very large user population and user buffer capacity.