Throughput analysis of packet reservation multiple access protocol for wireless communications

A packet reservation multiple access (PRMA) protocol was proposed for wireless communications. It can improve the system capacity by extracting the active terminals while they are in a silent state. Nanda, Goodman and Timor (see IEEE Trans. VT. vol.40, no.3, p.584-98, 1991) have analyzed the system by using the equilibrium point analysis (EPA). However, this method possibly generates multiple stable equilibrium points in high load conditions. The exact behaviour of the system can not be determined uniquely. Thus, we proposed a two-dimensional Markov chain model to approximately analyze the PRMA protocol. After the steady state probabilities are found, the channel throughput can be uniquely determined.