Stability of mobile slotted ALOHA network with Rayleigh fading, shadowing, and near-far effect

Dynamic network behavior is investigated using the classical ALOHA queueing model extended to mobile channels. The focus is on the assessment of receiver capture probabilities, based on a general propagation model for mobile radio communications. Queueing of packets in a mobile slotted ALOHA network with Rayleigh fading, shadowing, and UHF groundwave propagation is studied, using a finite Markov chain model. It is shown that receiver capture, assisted by all three propagation mechanisms, reduces bistability of the network substantially compared to the retransmission strategy. Results are presented for a uniform spatial distribution of the packet traffic ordered to the ALOHA channel. The near-far effect is highlighted, since the total network performance and the spatial distribution of the attempted traffic interact