Aloha random access is a widely used technique for coordinating the access of large numbers of
intermittent transmitters in a single shared communication channel. In an ALOHA channel each
transmitter sharing the channel transmits data packets at random times. In most ALOHA channels
the transmitters then rely on some protocol (such as repetition) to handle the case of packets lost due
to interference by other packets. An ALOHA channel may also just provide a best effort delivery
mechanism and leave it to the receiver to deal with lost packets.
Contents
[hide]
1 History
2 Operation of an ALOHA
Channel
3 Throughput of an ALOHA
Channel
4 Applications
5 References
6 See also
History
ALOHA channels were originally analyzed and implemented in the AlohaNet at the University of
Hawaii in 1970. The AlohaNet utilized UHF radio channels to connect computer resources on the
islands of Oahu, Maui and Hawaii in the state of Hawaii (Abramson, 1970). In 1973 ALOHA was
demonstrated in PacNet, a Pacific Ocean experimental satellite network involving NASA, the
University of Hawaii and the University of Alaska, Tohoku University and the University of ElectroCommunications in Japan, and the University of Sydney in Australia (Abramson, 1985). An ALOHA
random access channel was used by Dr. Robert Metcalfe in 1973 as the basis of the Xerox cable-based
Alto ALOHA Network later renamed and developed as Ethernet by 3COM (Metcalfe and Boggs,
1976). Since the 1980s ALOHA has been the primary random access mechanism utilized by mobile
telephone networks, satellite data networks, DOCSIS based cable data networks, Ethernet, WiFi and
WiMAX.
The key question of how many such users can share an ALOHA random access channel is dealt with
in Section 4.
G=(1)
If only those packets which do not overlap with any other packet are received correctly, there is
packet rate < defining the rate of occurrence of packets received correctly. Then the normalized
channel throughput of the ALOHA channel can be defined as
S=(2)
and the normalized throughput of an ALOHA random access channel is given by (Abramson, 1970)
S=Ge2G(3)
Applications
The first commercial application of ALOHA channels was launched in 1976 by Comsat General in the
Marisat maritime satellite communications system. At about the same time Metcalfe working with a
group from DEC, Intel and Xerox (the DIX Group) formulated an open Ethernet standard based on
the Alto ALOHA network. Since 1983 ALOHA channels have been adopted for use in all major
mobile telephone standards (1G, 2G and 3G) as the control channel and then for a variety of packet
data channels integrated into these voice networks (e.g. GPRS and UMTS). ALOHA has also been
adopted for use in a variety of protocols used in wired networks, CSMA/CD and CSMA/CA in single
channel local area networks and DOCSIS for commercial cable networks.