Abstract

This paper investigates a slotted random access system where packet capture is modeled using communication theoretic techniques. It is shown that the optimum rates and attempt probabilities depend on the receiver architecture, operating signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) and block length. High SNR analysis reveals that joint decoder asymptotically yields either a collision channel or a non-interacting channel, and single-user decoder results in a collision channel. Specific scenarios are investigated at intermediate SNR to determine when this all-or-nothing regime applies.