Modeling and Analysis of Generalized Slotted-Aloha MAC Protocols in Cooperative, Competitive and Adversarial Environments

Aloha [1] and its slotted variant [2] are commonly deployed Medium Access Control (MAC) protocols in environments where multiple transmitting devices compete for a medium, yet may have difficulty sensing each other’s presence. This paper models and evaluates the throughput that can be achieved in a system where nodes compete for bandwidth using a generalized version of slotted- Aloha protocols. We evaluate the channel utilization and fairness of these types of protocols for a variety of node objectives, including maximizing aggregate throughput of the channel, each node greedily maximizing its own throughput, and attacker nodes that attempt to jam the channel. If all nodes are selfish and greedily attempt to maximize their own throughputs, a situation similar to the traditional Prisoner’s Dilemma[3] arises. Our results reveal that under heavy loads, greedy strategies reduce the utilization, and that attackers cannot do much better than attacking during randomly selected slots.

[1]  Ronald L. Rivest,et al.  Network control by Bayesian broadcast , 1987, IEEE Trans. Inf. Theory.

[2]  Vishal Misra,et al.  Generalized Slotted-Aloha in Cooperative , Competitive and Adversarial Environments , 2022 .

[3]  Brahim Bensaou,et al.  Fair bandwidth sharing algorithms based on game theory frameworks for wireless ad-hoc networks , 2004, IEEE INFOCOM 2004.

[4]  Eitan Altman,et al.  Slotted Aloha as a game with partial information , 2004, Comput. Networks.

[5]  Raphael Rom,et al.  Multiple Access Protocols: Performance and Analysis , 1990, SIGMETRICS Perform. Evaluation Rev..

[6]  John V. Guttag,et al.  The 802.11 MAC protocol leads to inefficient equilibria , 2005, Proceedings IEEE 24th Annual Joint Conference of the IEEE Computer and Communications Societies..

[7]  George Kesidis,et al.  Equilibria of a noncooperative game for heterogeneous users of an ALOHA network , 2002, IEEE Communications Letters.

[8]  Lawrence G. Roberts,et al.  ALOHA packet system with and without slots and capture , 1975, CCRV.

[9]  Hari Balakrishnan,et al.  An analysis of short-term fairness in wireless media access protocols (poster session) , 2000, SIGMETRICS '00.

[10]  Stephen B. Wicker,et al.  Selfish users in Aloha: a game-theoretic approach , 2001, IEEE 54th Vehicular Technology Conference. VTC Fall 2001. Proceedings (Cat. No.01CH37211).

[11]  Stuart C. Schwartz,et al.  Stability properties of slotted Aloha with multipacket reception capability , 1988 .

[12]  Stephen B. Wicker,et al.  Stability of multipacket slotted Aloha with selfish users and perfect information , 2003, IEEE INFOCOM 2003. Twenty-second Annual Joint Conference of the IEEE Computer and Communications Societies (IEEE Cat. No.03CH37428).

[13]  Ariel Rubinstein,et al.  A Course in Game Theory , 1995 .

[14]  Robert Metcalfe,et al.  Ethernet: distributed packet switching for local computer networks , 1988, CACM.

[15]  Norman M. Abramson,et al.  THE ALOHA SYSTEM: another alternative for computer communications , 1899, AFIPS '70 (Fall).

[16]  Dimitri P. Bertsekas,et al.  Data Networks , 1986 .

[17]  L. Kleinrock,et al.  Packet Switching in Radio Channels: Part I - Carrier Sense Multiple-Access Modes and Their Throughput-Delay Characteristics , 1975, IEEE Transactions on Communications.

[18]  Raphael Rom,et al.  Multiple Access Protocols: Performance and Analysis , 1990, SIGMETRICS Perform. Evaluation Rev..

[19]  Saurabh Ganeriwal,et al.  On selfish behavior in CSMA/CA networks , 2005, Proceedings IEEE 24th Annual Joint Conference of the IEEE Computer and Communications Societies..

[20]  Vikram Srinivasan,et al.  Cooperation in wireless ad hoc networks , 2003, IEEE INFOCOM 2003. Twenty-second Annual Joint Conference of the IEEE Computer and Communications Societies (IEEE Cat. No.03CH37428).