Techniques to control power by controlling aggregate traffic in a channel

Abstract

Particular embodiments provide techniques for controlling power in a channel. The power being consumed in a channel may not always be fully used. For example, bursty or Aloha traffic may limit the power being used to transmit data in a channel. Thus, particular embodiments allow transceivers to increase the power used to transmit data in a channel. For example, many transceivers may be allowed to send data in a channel. If all transceivers were transmitting at once at an increased power level, the aggregate power level may be exceeded for the channel. All the transceivers may be allotted a fixed percentage of the aggregate power so as to guarantee not exceeding the power limit. However, not all transceivers may be using their allotted power at the same time. Thus, when the allotted aggregate power in the channel is not fully utilized, a transceiver may increase its traffic beyond its normal portion. For example, the transceiver may use a power-demanding high order modulation scheme to send data.