Performance analysis of a multibeam packet satellite system using random access techniques

A multibeam satellite system with on-board processing and memory is studied here. In this system, multiple slotted ALOHA up-links carry the traffic from spatially disjoint earth zones to the satellite. Packets are accepted at the satellite if memory is available and are routed to their destination zones. The model considered here will allow more than one transponder to serve a destination zone in each time slot. This is different from the model considered by Chlamtac and Ganz (1986), in which each zone is served by at most a single transponder. When the restriction of Chlamtac and Ganz to conflict-free scheduling is relaxed, the maximum throughput is increased by as much as 40%.