Performance analysis of slotted ALOHA over fading communications channels

The performance of the slotted ALOHA protocol in a fading multipath communications environment is determined using a two-state Gilbert-channel error model with memory. Average throughput and delay evaluations are performed for a finite-user population model. The stability of the protocol is determined by evaluating the average first exit time (FET) from the safe operating region. Gilbert clustered-channel error models having clustered error burst behavior are considered as representative of fading multipath channels. The average throughput, delay, and FET performance for clustered channels are shown to be significantly worse than that for memoryless channels with the same packet error rate