  In this paper, a random access scheme is introduced which relies on the
combination of packet erasure correcting codes and successive interference
cancellation (SIC). The scheme is named coded slotted ALOHA. A bipartite graph
representation of the SIC process, resembling iterative decoding of generalized
low-density parity-check codes over the erasure channel, is exploited to
optimize the selection probabilities of the component erasure correcting codes
via density evolution analysis. The capacity (in packets per slot) of the
scheme is then analyzed in the context of the collision channel without
feedback. Moreover, a capacity bound is developed and component code
distributions tightly approaching the bound are derived.
