Evaluation of Macro Diversity Gain in Long Range ALOHA Networks.

Macro reception diversity is a capability allowing a packet to be received by several base stations. In this letter, we propose a simple but accurate analytical model to estimate the macro diversity gain in pure and slotted ALOHA wireless networks. The proposed model takes into account Rayleigh fading, shadowing, and capture effect. We obtain simple closed-form formulas for the network packet loss rate. We find that systems with macro reception diversity can benefit from shadowing. With path loss exponent 4, packet loss rate constraint 10% and 8 dB shadowing, the capacity of pure ALOHA with macro diversity is at least 2 times as much as that in systems in which a device transmits only to the best base station. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]