AN OPTIMAL CHANNEL ACCESS PROTOCOL WITH MULTIPLE RECEPTION CAPACITY

A multiple access packet communication model is analyzed in which the users can receive packets on more than one common channel. For this type of system, a new channel access protocol is presented. We prove that under heavy homogeneous load the protocol guarantees the maximum achievable throughput among all possible protocols. The general model can be applied to different systems, according to various realizations of the logical channels. For example, in packet radio networks the channels can be realized by different carrier frequencies (FDMA) or by different codes (CDMA). The simplicity and optimality of the protocol make it attractive for practical applications.