Retransmission algorithm based on power priorities for wireless networks

A fundamental part of a wireless system is the MAC protocol, whose main goal is to let users gain access quickly and orderly to the needed bandwidth to transmit their information. The main problem in wireless communications is to overcome the disadvantage of the hostile characteristics presented by the radio channel. The paper deals with a proposal for a retransmission algorithm based on power priorities (RAPP), to be used along with S-ALOHA for the retransmission of request packets sent by remote terminals to a base station (BS) in a WATM network. We use WATM as a test platform, but RAPP is general enough to be applied in other scenarios as well. The performance of RAPP is analyzed and compared with that of the binary exponential (BE) retransmission algorithm, highlighting the advantages presented by RAPP in a WATM environment.