On the throughput of ALOHA in the presence of multiuser detection

Abstract

We study the throughput of ALOHA based packet radio employing code division multiple access. In particular, we quantify the throughput increase achievable by linear multiuser detection and iterative multistage detection. In the context of ALOHA, multiuser detection is seen as a viable error recovery mechanism, which results in considerably smaller retransmission probabilities, and subsequently, higher throughput. The analysis suggests significant increase in throughput when compared to ALOHA operated in conjunction with a conventional CDMA receiver.