The present invention discloses a method for increasing the channel
capacity of a communications network, comprising a plurality of one-way
TDMA transmitters sharing said channel, and at least one compatible
receiver, by reducing transmission collisions among said transmitters.
This is achieved by coupling a Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS)
decoder, such as a GPS receiver, to each transmitter, and limiting
transmissions to discrete time slots, determined by timing signals
provided by said GNSS. Further, this basic set of time slots is divided
into several sub sets, and each transmitter selects a sub set of time
slots according to its geographic location, in order to enable reusing
time slots in spaced apart areas, as frequencies are reused in cellular
networks. Then, each transmitter selects its own transmission time slot,
from said sub set, in a way that statistically minimizes collisions among
nearby transmitters. The present invention does not intend to ensure
collision-free communications, yet is projected to reduce the
transmission collision rate among simplex in nature transmitters, which
have no means to detect other transmissions, or discover if a
transmission was successful. One embodiment of this invention is related
to distress radio beacons in satellite based Search and Rescue (SAR)
systems, such as Cospas-Sarsat.