Chapter 6 - The IEEE 802.16m Medium Access Control Common Part Sub-layer (Part I)

Abstract

This chapter describes the functional and operational aspects of IEEE 802.16m MAC Common Part Sublayer (MAC CPS) on the control-plane. The MAC CPS provides an interface between the physical layer and higher protocol layers through PHY and MAC SAPs, respectively. The MAC CPS functions are classified into Radio Resource Control and Management (RRCM) and MAC functions. The soft classification of the MAC CPS into RRCM and MAC sublayer does not require any SAP between the two classes of functions. The IEEE 802.16m MAC layer is connection-oriented. For the purpose of mapping services to varying levels of QoS at mobile stations, all data communications are manifested in the form of transport connections. Service flows may be provisioned when an MS enters into the system. Following MS registration with the serving BS, transport connections are established and associated with the service flows (one connection per service flow) to provide a reference for requesting bandwidth. Furthermore, new transport connections may be established when a user's service needs to change. A transport connection defines both the mapping between peer convergence sublayers that utilize the MAC and a service flow. The service flow defines the QoS parameters for the PDUs that are exchanged on the connection.