On the Combined Performance of Joint Access Control/Modulation/Coding Schemes

Abstract

The combined performance of a multi-access communication channel under joint access control/modulation/coding procedures is examined. The multi-access channel serves as a shared information transmission medium in a data communication network, such as a satellite, computer or terrestrial radio communication network. The performance of the underlying modulation/coding scheme is expressed in terms of the corresponding bit-error probability vs. signal-to-noise ratio curve. The computational cutoff error rate is also used as a proper performance measure characterizing the joint modulation/coding scheme. The performance of the underlying access-control algorithm is described by the message-delay vs. network-throughput curve. Integrating these performance functions, the combined performance of the joint access-control/modulation/coding procedure is derived. In particular, under proper bandwidth and power limitations, one can then evaluate the total amount of information that can be transmitted through the channel, in a reliable and timely fashion, at prescribed bit-error-probability and message-delay values, under various communication link, transceiver, repeater and antenna conditions.