Ad Hoc Networks with Topology-Transparent Scheduling Schemes: Scaling Laws and Capacity/Delay Tradeoffs

In this paper we investigate the limiting properties, in terms of capacity and delay, of an ad hoc network employing a topology-transparent scheduling scheme. In particular, we focus on Time-Spread Multiple Access (TSMA) protocols, which are able to offer, in a distributed fashion, a deterministic upper bound on the access delay. The analysis is based on some asymptotic (focusing) properties of geometric random graphs. The analytical framework is applied to both static and mobile networks. The obtained results are compared with the results present in the literature for the case of an optimum (centralized) scheduling scheme.