Delay versus throughput comparisons for stabilized slotted ALOHA

Methods of stabilizing the slotted ALOHA channel are simulated to compare delay versus throughput performance. It is shown that the best performance is provided by methods that use deferred first transmission and estimate the number of blocked terminals. Three such methods, previously thought to be independent, are shown to be the same scheme with different control parameters. It is shown that these three methods do not differ in delay vs. throughput performance at the 95% confidence level. The optimal parameters to provide the smallest delay at a given throughput are explored, and it is shown that near-optimal parameters provide a smaller delay than that obtained using previously published schemes.< >