On channel power sensing in terrestrial spread spectrum packet radio networks

Abstract

The author considers the possibility of obtaining performance gains by using channel power sensing in the channel access protocol of a terrestrial spread-spectrum packet radio network as a generalization of the CSMA (carrier-sense multiple-access) protocol of narrowband networks. Channel load sensing is viewed as a method of estimating the interference at the receiver based on the interference measured at the transmitter. To do this, a bivariate probability distribution function of the interference at the two locations is required. The probability of packet success is then determined. Since it is difficult to evaluate numerically, a program was written to simulate it. The author gives simulation results for the case of a random network.<>