Decentralized dynamic control of a multiaccess broadcast channel

Retransmission policies are presented for the decentralized control of a multiaccess packet-switched broadcast channel. The policies have a simple recursive form yielding a Markov description of the system. Finite average delay is achieved for an infinite-population Poisson arrival model for any rate. It is proposed that the goal of retransmission policies should be to maintain the traffic intensity at a nearly constant, optimum level. The policies we introduce achieve this goal by nearly decoupling the dynamics of the traffic intensity from the backlog fluctuations. Analysis and simulations show that the policies perform well, even when the channel feedback information is unreliable or incomplete.