Channel Access Method - Classifications in The Literature

Classifications in The Literature

Several ways of categorizing multiple-access schemes and protocols have been used in the literature. For example, Daniel Minoli (2009) identifies five principal types of multiple-access schemes: FDMA, TDMA, CDMA, SDMA, and Random access. R. Rom and M. Sidi (1990) categorize the protocols into Conflict-free access protocols, Aloha protocols, and Carrier Sensing protocols.

The Telecommunications Handbook (Terplan and Morreale, 2000) identifies the following MAC categories:

• Fixed assigned: TDMA, FDMA+WDMA, CDMA, SDMA
• Demand assigned (DA)
  • Reservation: DA/TDMA, DA/FDMA+DA/WDMA, DA/CDMA, DA/SDMA
  • Polling: Generalized polling, Distributed polling, Token Passing, Implicit polling, Slotted access
• Random access (RA): Pure RA (ALOHA, GRA), Adaptive RA (TRA), CSMA, CSMA/CD, CSMA/CA