Milestone-Proposal talk:ALOHANET (aka ALOHA System)

Advocate's Assessment -- Dmichelson (talk) 08:37, 21 February 2020 (UTC)

There is absolutely no doubt that ALOHANET should be recognized.

The first demonstration that wireless channels could be effectively and efficiently shared using relatively simple random access protocols, ALOHANET contradicted many commonly held assumptions about random access channels. Its significance was immense and immediately recognized. Advanced random access protocols such as CSMA/CD and technologies such as Ethernet, Wi-Fi, etc. were a direct result.

The title and citation needed significant work. I have edited the proposal to reflect this.

It is noteworthy that Robert Metcalfe, inventor of Ethernet, has stepped forward to endorse this proposal.

Statement of Support from Dr. Metcalfe for IEEE Milestone ALOHAnet (aka ALOHA System).

Yes, I support ALOHAnet as an IEEE Milestone.

Professor Norm Abramson’s inventions and analysis of Aloha channels at Hawaii were a fountain of ideas for other network researchers and queuing theorists. At Xerox Parc in 1973 we adopted ALOHAnet’s randomized retransmissions for the first Ethernet’s packet access method, which we called CSMA/CD – carrier sense multiple access with collision detection.

Robert M. Metcalfe, PhD, UTAustin Professor of Innovation, Recipient of the IEEE Medal of Honor, Eminent Member of IEEE HKN

In future, we should make clear to proposers that they are not competing for an award. Instead, we are trying to capture a moment in time when something important happened that had important downstream effects.

ALOHANET citation -- Amy Bix (talk) 18:00, 23 February 2020 (UTC)

Great project! But again, I wonder about ways to make the citation more meaningful to the general public (also, the part about "contradicted many then commonly held assumptions about random access channels" seems vague and doesn't mean much out of context). I think we're also missing a date. How about something like the following:

ALOHAnet, the world's first packet radio network, created affordable computer connections across Hawaii's islands in 1971. ALOHAnet employed innovative random access protocols, proving their efficiency for large-scale sharing of communications channels. ALOHA techniques opened the field of packet broadcasting and pioneered network engineering. ALOHAnet attracted military and civilian interest, advancing development of modern mobile, wireless, satellite, and Internet systems. (59 words)

As always, please check for accuracy..... Amy