A Multichannel Random Access Protocol for Multislot Short Messages with Delay Constraints

A multichannel random access protocol called FMCSA for multislot short messages is proposed in this paper to be used in access networks with large propagation delay. This protocol combines random access with the use of packet level forward error correction coding for new messages and scheduled retransmissions for partially received messages. Analytical and simulation results show that FMCSA can achieve a higher throughput and lower delay than slotted Aloha. When the system is operating at the low load region, the short messages can be delivered in their first attempts with very high probability. With the load increasing, more messages will be received partially in their first attempts and the scheduled retransmission scheme will guarantee the partially received messages to be recovered in their second attempts. Therefore the delay performance of FMCSA is much more robust to the load fluctuation than slot Aloha.