Air Interface of an ATM Radio Access Network
Dietmar Petras · 1998
This paper describes system and protocol aspects of the air interface of a fixed ATM Radio Access Network with directional antennas at terminals and sectored antennas at base stations (also called Point-to-Multipoint system). A requirement on the system is that it has to fit transparently into a fixed ATM network. A radio sector of the system is interpreted as a distributed ATM multiplexer. The protocol stack of the air interface implements the statistical multiplexing of ATM cells with a quality of service as in fixed ATM multiplexers with the same link data rate. The multiplexing is controlled by a service strategy that optimizes the resource allocation based on shortterm demands of virtual channels and their negotiated quality of service. The MAC protocol realizes the transmission order of ATM cells given by the service strategy. By this, the protocol stack is able to efficiently support all ATM service categories.