Mathematical Analysis of Throughput Bounds in Random Access with ZigZag Decoding

We investigate the throughput improvement that ZigZag decoding (Gollakota and Katabi 2008) can achieve in multi-user random access systems. ZigZag is a recently proposed 802.11 receiver design that allows successful reception of packets despite collision. Thus, the maximum achievable throughput of a wireless LAN can be significantly improved by using ZigZag decoding. We analyze the throughput bounds in four different idealized multi-access system models for the case when ZigZag decoding is used. We also provide results for the Aloha and CSMA models where exact closed form solutions are infeasible to calculate. Our analysis and simulation results show that ZigZag decoding can significantly improve the maximum throughput of the random access system.