Performance of the combined free/demand assignment multiple access protocol with combined request strategies via satellite

This paper explores the relative performance of the combined free/demand assignment multiple access (CFDAMA) protocol with random access and with packet accompanied request strategies in supporting self-similar traffic over a geostationary satellite link. It Is shown that both request strategies have certain advantages and are suited to different levels of channel loading. A new scheme is proposed, CFDAMA with combined requests (CFDAMA-CR), which combines the two request strategies to gain the benefits of both. Simulation results show that the CFDAMA-CR scheme can achieve better delay/throughput performance for a satellite channel than either of the standard schemes.