  Motivated by the demand of reliable and low latency communications, we employ
tools from information theory, stochastic processes and queueing theory, in
order to provide a comprehensive framework regarding the analysis of a Time
Division Multiple Access (TDMA) network with bursty traffic, in the finite
blocklength regime. Specifically, we re-examine the stability conditions of a
noncooperative TDMA multiple access channel, evaluate the optimal throughput,
and identify the optimal trade-off between data packet size and latency. The
evaluation is performed both numerically and via the proposed approximations
that result in closed form expressions. Then, we examine the stability
conditions and the performance of the Multiple Access Relay Channel with TDMA
scheduling, subject to finite blocklength constraints, by applying a cognitive
cooperation protocol that assumes relaying is enabled when sources are idle.
Finally, we propose the novel Batch-And-Forward (BAF) strategy, that can
significantly enhance the performance of cooperative networks in the finite
blocklength regime, as well as reduce the requirement in metadata. The BAF
strategy is quite versatile, thus, it can be embedded in existing cooperative
protocols, without imposing additional complexity on the overall scheme.
