Performance evaluation of multiple access control schemes for wireless multimedia services

Multiple access control (MAC) protocols for a wireless ATM network are required to handle the diverse traffic characteristics in CBR, VBR and ABR data. Considerable research effort expended in tackling the problem has resulted in a myriad of MAC protocols. While each protocol is individually shown to be effective by the respective designers, it is unclear how these different protocols compare with each other on a unified basis. Seven recently proposed TDMA-based MAC protocols for integrated wireless data and voice services are quantitatively compared. Using a time-varying channel model, the protocols are evaluated by simulations. It is found that exploiting the synergy between the MAC and physical layers can lead to a higher performance.