Lindner, SebastianSebastianLindnerFuger, KonradKonradFugerAhmed Eltayeb Ahmed, MusabMusabAhmed Eltayeb AhmedTimm-Giel, AndreasAndreasTimm-Giel2024-08-012024-08-012024-03-21IEEE Transactions on Vehicular Technology 73 (8): 11606-11620 (2024)https://hdl.handle.net/11420/48604Modernizing communication systems is crucial for the future of aviation, and the <inline-formula><tex-math notation="LaTeX">$L$</tex-math></inline-formula>-dacs Digital Aeronautical Communications Systemin(LDACS) in Air-Ground (A/G) and Air-Air (A/A) modes is being developed European and American organizations to meet this need. In this study, we explore possible channel access schemes for aeronautical ad-hoc networks. We propose Multi-Channel Self-Organized TDMA (MCSOTDMA), a novel variant of randomized, reservation-based slottedALOHA for LDACS A/A. In particular, we prove that it can achieve an optimal delay by following the <inline-formula><tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\frac{1}{e}$</tex-math></inline-formula>-rule of traditional slotted ALOHA's throughput. This new variant allows users to distributively converge towards an optimal channel access strategy with no a-priori knowledge of their neighborhood. It scales to any number of users and always guarantees a freely chosen, average packet collision probability. We evaluate the performance on the busiest oceanic airspace, and compare it to medium access schemes used in maritime and other aeronautical networks. We demonstrate that arbitrary collision rates can be achieved at the cost of proportional packet delay, establish communication links with deterministic performance, and implement broadcast voice messaging among pilots. We provide access to the simulator and a protocol specification under open licenses, in line with the principles of open science.en1939-9359IEEE transactions on vehicular technology202481160611620IEEEaeronautical mobile ad-hoc networksair-air communicationsAircraftdistributed medium access controlEuropeL-bandLDACSMedia Access ProtocolProtocolsResource managementTime division multiple accessComputer Science, Information and General Works::004: Computer SciencesMulti-channel self-organized TDMA for future aeronautical mobile ad-hoc networksJournal Article10.1109/TVT.2024.3380316Journal Article