Contention resolution diversity slotted ALOHA (CRDSA) is a simple but effective improvement of slotted ALOHA. CRDSA relies on MAC bursts repetition and on interference cancellation (IC), achieving a peak throughput T ≅ 0.55, whereas for slotted ALOHA T ≅ 0.37. In this paper we show that the IC process of CRDSA can be conveniently described by a bipartite graph, establishing a bridge between the IC process and the iterative erasure decoding of graph-based codes. Exploiting this analogy, we show how a high throughput can be achieved by selecting variable burst repetition rates according to given probability distributions, leading to irregular graphs. A framework for the probability distribution optimization is provided. Based on that, we propose a novel scheme, named irregular repetition slotted ALOHA, that can achieve a throughput T ≅ 0.97 for large frames and near to T ≅ 0.8 in practical implementations, resulting in a gain of ~ 45% w.r.t. CRDSA. An analysis of the normalized efficiency is introduced, allowing performance comparisons under the constraint of equal average transmission power. Simulation results, including an IC mechanism described in the paper, substantiate the validity of the analysis and confirm the high efficiency of the proposed approach down to a signal-to-noise ratio as a low as Eb/N0=2 dB.

Graph-Based Analysis and Optimization of Contention Resolution Diversity Slotted ALOHA

Satellite communications (SatComs) have recently entered a period of renewed interest motivated by technological advances and nurtured through private investment and ventures. The present survey aims at capturing the state of the art in SatComs, while highlighting the most promising open research topics. Firstly, the main innovation drivers are motivated, such as new constellation types, on-board processing capabilities, non-terrestrial networks and space-based data collection/processing. Secondly, the most promising applications are described, i.e., 5G integration, space communications, Earth observation, aeronautical and maritime tracking and communication. Subsequently, an in-depth literature review is provided across five axes: i) system aspects, ii) air interface, iii) medium access, iv) networking, v) testbeds & prototyping. Finally, a number of future challenges and the respective open research topics are described.

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Satellite Communications in the New Space Era: A Survey and Future Challenges

This paper focuses on the use of satellite communication systems for the support of Internet of Things (IoT). We refer to the IoT paradigm as the means to collect data from sensors or RFID and to send control messages to actuators. In many application scenarios, sensors and actuators are distributed over a very wide area; in some cases, they are located in remote areas where they are not served by terrestrial access networks and, as a consequence, the use of satellite communication systems becomes of paramount importance for the Internet of Remote Things (IoRT). The enabling factors of IoRT through satellite are: 1) the interoperability between satellite systems and sensors/actuators and 2) the support of IPv6 over satellite. Furthermore, radio resource management algorithms are required to enhance the efficiency of IoT over satellite. In this work, we provide an integrated view of satellite-based IoT, handling this topic as a jigsaw puzzle where the pieces to be assembled are represented by the following topics: MAC protocols for satellite routed sensor networks, efficient IPv6 support, heterogeneous networks interoperability, quality of service (QoS) management, and group-based communications.

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Satellite Communications Supporting Internet of Remote Things

This paper discusses the contemporary problem of providing multiple-access (MAC) to a massive number of uncoordinated users. First, we define a random-access code for Ka-user Gaussian MAC to be a collection of norm-constrained vectors such that the noisy sum of any K a of them can be decoded with a given (suitably defined) probability of error. An achievability bound for such codes is proposed and compared against popular practical solutions: ALOHA, coded slotted ALOHA, CDMA, and treating interference as noise. It is found out that as the number of users increases existing solutions become vastly energy-inefficient. Second, we discuss the asymptotic (in blocklength) problem of coding for a K-user Gaussian MAC when K is proportional to blocklength and each user's payload is fixed. It is discovered that the energy-per-bit vs. spectral efficiency exhibits a rather curious tradeoff in this case.

A perspective on massive random-access

Internet of Things (IoT) is one of the evolutionary directions of the Internet. This paper focuses on the low earth orbit (LEO) satellite constellation-based IoT services for their irreplaceable functions. In many cases, IoT devices are distributed in remote areas (e.g., desert, ocean, and forest) in some special applications, they are placed in some extreme topography, where are unable to have direct terrestrial network accesses and can only be covered by satellite. Comparing with the traditional geostationary earth orbit (GEO) systems, LEO satellite constellation has the advantages of low propagation delay, small propagation loss and global coverage. Furthermore, revision of existing IoT protocol are necessary to enhance the compatibility of the LEO satellite constellation-based IoT with terrestrial IoT systems. In this paper, we provide an overview of the architecture of the LEO satellite constellation-based IoT including the following topics: LEO satellite constellation structure, efficient spectrum allocation, heterogeneous networks compatibility, and access and routing protocols.

LEO Satellite Constellation for Internet of Things

In this paper a new multiple access scheme dubbed contention resolution diversity slotted ALOHA (CRDSA) is introduced and its performance and implementation are thoroughly analyzed. The scheme combines diversity transmission of data bursts with efficient interference cancellation techniques. It is shown that CRDSA largely outperforms the classical lotted ALOHA (SA) technique in terms of throughput under equal packet loss ratio conditions (e.g. 17-fold improvement at packet loss ratio = 2 middot 10-2). CRDSA allows to boost the performance of random access (RA) channels in the return link of interactive satellite networks, making RA very efficient and providing low latency for the transmission of small size sparse packets. Implementation-wise it is shown that the CRDSA technique can be easily integrated in systems equipped with digital burst demodulators.

Od.R. Herrero

Papers

Contention Resolution Diversity Slotted ALOHA (CRDSA): An Enhanced Random Access Schemefor Satellite Access Packet Networks