Overview and Comparison of Demand Assignment Multiple Access (DAMA) Concepts forSatellite Communications Networks

摘要

This report provides a broad survey of demand assignment multiple access (DAMA)techniques for satellite communications. The primary intended audiences are military planners, communications system designers and architects, and the military acquisition community at large. However, much of the material in this report will also be of interest for commercial communications system planners and designers, especially where there is a potential for military use of these commercial systems. The report describes a wide (but not exhaustive) set of DAMA techniques, with emphasis on those techniques that offer the greatest practical benefit for military applications. Methods for making DAMA systems resistant to interference and jamming are discussed, including some new methods. The report covers both pure DAMA protocols, which efficiently handle voice traffic and long data transmissions, and hybrid DAMA protocols, which can efficiently handle not only voice and long data transmissions, but also short data transmissions (packets). Because of the increasing importance of packetized communications for the military, an entire chapter is devoted to the subject of hybrid DAMA. Selected performance results are presented, including some new performance results. To make the material in this report accessible to readers with only a basic background in communications, a substantial amount of tutorial material has been included.