On the stability of the Ethernet
JOAN WRIGHT GOODMAN, Albert G. Greenberg, Neal Madras, Peter March · 1985
We consider the stochastic behavior of binary exponential backoff, a probabilistic algorithm for regulating transmissions on a multiple access channel. Ethernet, a local area network, is built upon this algorithm. The fundamental theoretical issue is stability: does the backlog of packets awaiting transmission remain bounded in time, provided the rates of new packet arrivals are small enough?