Enhanced Contention Resolution Aloha - ECRA

Abstract: Random Access (RA) Medium Access (MAC) protocols are simple and effective when the nature of the traffic is unpredictable and random. In the following paper, a novel RA protocol called Enhanced Contention Resolution ALOHA (ECRA) is presented. This evolution, based on the previous Contention Resolution ALOHA (CRA) protocol, exploits the nature of the interference in unslotted Aloha-like channels for trying to resolve most of the partial collision that can occur there. In the paper, the idea behind ECRA is presented together with numerical simulations and a mathematical analysis of its performance gain. It is shown that relevant performance increases in both throughput and Packet Error Rate (PER) can be reached by ECRA with respect to CRA. A comparison with Contention Resolution Diversity Slotted ALOHA (CRDSA) is also provided.