PRMA performance evaluation based on queueing theory

Abstract

The packet reservation multiple access (PRMA) protocol has been proposed as a candidate for the third generation of mobile radio systems to obtain a statistical multiplexing gain from the bursty character of speech, probably the main service to be provided by a mobile network. The PRMA is derived from the slotted Aloha protocol, and being a reservation protocol makes it suitable to cope with the quality needs of the voice service. In the technical literature it is not difficult to find papers which deal with the performance evaluation of systems which use the PRMA; the mathematical tool known as equilibrium point analysis (EPA) is used in most of this work to calculate the performance of the system. The results of the EPA are cumbersome to compute and require programming complex mathematical expressions. Instead of this method, a model based on queueing theory is proposed to evaluate the PRMA protocol. The probability of packets being dropped and talkspurts being clipped are easily computed according to the proposed approach.