Frequency-hop packet radio networks with coding and retransmission backoff

A fully connected frequency-hop packet radio network is considered. Four packet-combining techniques are presented, which significantly reduce the packet-error rate. An analytical model is used to offer insight into how system dynamics are affected by the error-control method and retransmission backoff policy. It is shown that enhancing the error-control method increases the maximum throughput of the network and alleviates the stability problem, but does not solve the problem. On the other hand, a good choice of retransmission backoff policy solves the stability problem, but does not alter the maximum throughput. These results suggest that in order to construct a stable network with large throughput, a good error-control method and retransmission backoff policy are both necessary.     

A protocol for adaptive transmission in direct-sequence spread-spectrum packet radio networks

Wireless communication channels may change greatly from one transmission to the next, due to variations in propagation loss and interference. The use of fixed transmission parameters for such channels results in wasted energy when channel conditions are good. Adaptation of the power, code rate, and symbol rate reduces energy consumption and interference caused to other systems. Such adaptation requires information about the characteristics of the channel, which is more difficult to obtain in a packet radio network (PRN) or other mobile ad hoc network than in a typical cellular communication system. We develop methods for providing partial information about the channel state from three statistics that are derived by different subsystems in the receiving terminals of a direct-sequence spread-spectrum PRN. We present and evaluate a protocol that uses this information to adapt the transmission parameters in response to changes in interference and propagation conditions in the network. The performance of the new adaptive-transmission protocol is compared with a system with fixed transmission parameters and with an adaptive protocol that is furnished with perfect knowledge of the channel state at the completion of each transmission.     

Technical issues regarding satellite packet switching

Many concepts for advanced communication satellite networks have recently been proposed. Critical technical issues relating to satellite packet switching for meshed very small aperture terminal networks and broadband networks are addressed. Hardware considerations, networking and testing issues are discussed.     

Hybrid satellite and terrestrial networks

The role of satellite communications in networks that provide new services, such as frame relay and multimedia, is investigated. Both passive and active (on-board switching/processing) satellite systems are considered. Novel techniques are developed for each system to demonstrate, via detailed analysis and simulation, how the communications bandwidth agility of multipoint/broadcast satellite channels, and the on-board switching/processing, makes it feasible to provide these new services via hybrid satellite and terrestrial networks in a resource-efficient manner.     

Making transmission schedules immune to topology changes inmulti-hop packet radio networks

Transmissions scheduling is a key design problem in packet radio networks, relevant to TDMA and CDMA systems. A large number of topology-dependent scheduling algorithms are available, in which changes of topology inevitably require recomputation of transmission schedules. The need for constant adaptation of schedules to mobile topologies entails significant, sometime insurmountable, problems. These are the protocol overhead due to schedule recomputation, performance penalty due to suspension of transmissions during schedule reorganization, exchange of control message and new schedule broadcast. Furthermore, if topology changes faster than the rate at which new schedules can be recomputed and distributed, the network can suffer a catastrophic failure. The authors propose a robust scheduling protocol which is unique in providing a topology transparent solution to scheduled access in multi-hop mobile radio networks. The proposed solution adds the main advantages of random access protocols to scheduled access. Similarly to random access it is robust in the presence of mobile nodes. Unlike random access, however, it does not suffer from inherent instability, and performance deterioration due to packet collisions. Unlike current scheduled access protocols, the transmission schedules of the proposed solution are independent of topology changes, and channel access is inherently fair and traffic adaptive     

Deterministic access protocols for packet radio networks

In this paper, multiple-phase deterministic protocols for packet radio networks are introduced and analysed. Two modes of information transfer are considered, namely (a) broadcasting and (b) point-to-point transmission. We explore systematic ways of designing multiple-phase protocols and apply them on Manhattan networks. The proposed protocols are studied primarily from the point of view of throughput efficiency. Delay analysis is also presented.     

Topology control for multihop packet radio networks

A distributed topology-control algorithm has been developed for each node in a packet radio network (PRN) to control its transmitting power and logical neighbors for a reliable high-throughput topology. The algorithm first constructs a planar triangulation from locations of all nodes as a starting topology. Then, the minimum angles of all triangles in the planar triangulation are maximized by means of edge switching to improve connectivity and throughput. The resulting triangulation at this stage, the Delaunay triangulation, can be determined locally at each node. The topology is modified by negotiating among neighbors to satisfy a design requirement on the nodal degree parameter. Simulations show that the final topology is degree-bounded, has a rather regular and uniform structure, and has throughput and reliability that are greater than that of a number of alternative topologies     

Capture models for mobile packet radio networks

The probability q_i of successful reception in a nonfading mobile radio channel with i contending mobiles transmitting to a central base station is studied for a number of different capture and spatial distribution models. It is shown that a generalized capture model can be used to estimate q_i's for a simplified example system which uses noncoherent frequency shift keying modulation. This model can be applied to other systems as well. An example of the use of the q_i 's in the throughput evaluation of a finite population slotted ALOHA system is given. In most practical systems, the mobiles cannot get arbitrarily close to the base station. The effect of this constraint on q_i is examined. Finally, the dependence of the capture probability for a test mobile on its distance from the base station is obtained     

Nonblocking copy networks for multicast packet switching

In addition to handling point-to-point connections, a broadband packet network should be able to provide multipoint communications that are required by a wide range of applications. The essential component to enhance the connection capability of a packet network is a multicast packet switch, capable of packet replications and switching, which is usually a serial combinations of a copy network and a point-to-point switch. The copy network replicates input packets from various sources simultaneously, after which copies of broadcast packets are routed to their final destination by the switch. A nonblocking, self-routing copy network with constant latency is proposed. Packet replications are accomplished by an encoding process and a decoding process. The encoding process transforms the set of copy numbers, specified in the headers of incoming packets, into a set of monotone address intervals which form new packet headers. The decoding process performs the packet replication according to the Boolean interval splitting algorithm through the broadcast banyan network, the decision making is based on a two-bit header information. This yields minimum complexity in the switch nodes     

General purpose packet satellite networks

The use of satellite communication techniques to provide integrated data network and point-to-point and conference speech services is discussed. The concept of a General Purpose Packet Satellite Network (GPSN) is introduced in terms of its requirements, and consideration is given to techniques that satisfy these requirements. The class of Priority Oriented Demand Assignment (PODA) algorithms is defined and compared with other packet-oriented demand assignment algorithms. PODA is shown to be well suited to the GPSN application. Networking and access protocol issues are considered in the context of a GPSN. The Atlantic Packet Satellite Experiment, an ongoing experimental program which is developing packet satellite technology, is described in some detail.     

Optimum transmission ranges in multihop packet radio networks inthe presence of fading

The evaluation of optimum transmission ranges in a packet radio network in a fading and shadowing environment is considered. It is shown that the optimal probability of transmission of each user is independent of the system model and is p_o≃0.271. The optimum range should be chosen so that on the average there are χ(G/b)²η/ terminals closer to the transmitter than the receiver, where G is the spread spectrum processing gain, b is the outage signal-to-noise ratio threshold, η is the power loss factor and χ depends on the system parameters and the propagation model. The performance index is given in terms of the optimal normalized expected progress per slot, given by ϑ(G/b)¹η/ where ϑ is proportional to the square root of χ. A comparison with the results obtained by using deterministic propagation models shows, for typical values of fading and shadowing parameters, a reduction up to 40% of the performance index     

FB-banyans and FB-delta networks: Fault-tolerant networks for broadband packet switching

Many fast packet switches for the broadband integrated services digital network (BISDN) in the literature are based on banyan networks. Although banyan networks possess nice properties such as a simple control and a low hardware cost, they are unique-path networks. Since there is a unique path from an input to an output in a banyan network, a single component failure may disrupt services of some nodes connected to such a network. Moreover, banyan networks are also blocking networks; packets can be lost within the networks. To reduce the packet loss, buffered banyan networks can be used. In an earlier work we have proposed the addition of backward links to otherwise unidirectional banyan networks to create B-banyans (and B-delta networks). Backward links not only function as implicit buffers for blocked packets, but also provide multiple paths for each input-output connection. However, the multiple paths in B-banyans may not be disjoint. In this paper, we enhance B-banyans and B-delta networks in such a way that the resulting networks can provide disjoint multiple paths for each input-output pair. The existence of disjoint multiple paths has a significant effect on the network fault-tolerance. The new networks, called FB-banyans and FB-delta networks, are k fault-tolerant, where k is the number of backward links per switch and is less than the switch size. They are also robust to more than k faults, depending on the locations of faults. The maximal fault-tolerance is achieved when k is the switch size minus 1. The performance of the new networks is analysed and compared to that of other networks of interest. FB-banyans and FB-delta networks can be used as a switch fabric for fast packet switches to provide performance comparable to that of buffered banyan networks and good fault tolerance.     

Distributed code assignments for CDMA packet radio networks

Code-division multi-access (CDMA) techniques allow many users to transmit simultaneously in the same band without substantial interference by using approximately orthogonal (low cross-correlation) spread-spectrum waveforms. Two-phase algorithms have been devised to assign and reassign spread-spectrum codes to transmitters, to receivers and to pairs of stations in a large dynamic packet radio network in polynomial times. The purpose of the code assignments is to spatially reuse spreading codes to reduce the possibility of packet collisions and to react dynamically to topological changes. These two-phase algorithms minimize the time complexity in the first phase and minimize the number of control packets needed to be exchanged in the second phase. Therefore, they can start the network operation in a short time, then switch to the second phase with the goal of adapting to topological changes. A pairwise code-assignment scheme is proposed to assign codes to edges. Simulations based on well-controlled topologies (sparse topologies) show that the scheme requires much fewer codes than transmitter-based code assignment, while maintaining similar throughput performance     

Hermitian codes for frequency-hop spread-spectrum packet radio networks

Hermitian codes are an attractive alternative to Reed-Solomon codes for use in frequency-hop spread-spectrum packet radio networks. For a given alphabet size, a Hermitian code has a much longer block length than a Reed-Solomon code. This and other considerations suggest that Hermitian codes may be superior for certain applications. Analytical results are developed for the evaluation of the packet error probability for frequency-hop transmissions using Hermitian coding. We find there are several situations for which Hermitian codes provide much lower packet error probabilities than can be obtained with Reed-Solomon codes. In general, as the code rate decreases or the symbol alphabet size increases, the relative performance of Hermitian codes improves with respect to Reed-Solomon codes. Performance evaluations are presented for an additive white Gaussian noise channel and for certain partial-band interference channels, and the packet error probability is evaluated for both errors-only and errors-and-erasures decoding.     

Optical signal processing for optical packet switching networks

Optical packet switching promises to bring the flexibility and efficiency of the Internet to transparent optical networking with bit rates extending beyond that currently available with electronic router technologies. New optical signal processing techniques have been demonstrated that enable routing at bit rates from 10 Gb/s to beyond 40 Gb/s. We review these signal processing techniques and how all-optical-wavelength converter technology can be used to implement packet switching functions. Specific approaches that utilize-ultra-fast all-optical nonlinear fiber wavelength converters and monolithically integrated optical wavelength converters are discussed and research results presented.     

Mobile packet radio networks: State-of-the-art

MUCH WORK HAS been done in the areas of packet switching, packet radio, and random communication channels. However, efforts combining these areas are not as plentiful. There are several reasons for this. One reason is, the packet communications area is relatively young. Much of the research into packet communications has been accomplished by computer scientists rather then communications engineers, with a resulting emphasis on architecture, protocols, software, and so on. Even the development of packet radio has not fostered extensive examination of link effects on system performances. The UHF line-of-sight links and SHF satellite links have been assumed to be perfect with packet collisions as the dominant error source, which is a good assumption under normal circumstances. However, abnormal circumstances including ionospheric scintillations and multipath fading are another source of error on degraded packet radio links, which characterize Mobile Packet Radio Networks (MPRNET). In this paper we define and discuss Mobile Packet Radio Networks and presend their channel characteristics. The performance avaluation of some channel access protocols for a Mobile Packet Radio Network link, which is a typical example of a degraded packet radio channel, is descirbed.