On the voice‐data integration in third generation wireless access communication networks

Abstract

AbstractMobile wireless communications, which includes cellular telephones, land mobile radio, and personal communication systems, have experienced enormous growth over the last decade. Data services represent a critical component of future wireless communications, but have received little attention. While some attention has been given to specialized mobile data networks, less has been directed at the ongoing design of data services in evolving digital cellular networks. In this paper we report on the results of a simulation study which explores voice‐data integration performance in third generation wireless communication networks. These networks are designed to provide access to broadband ISDN networks for large numbers of mobile voice and data users. The primary goal of the paper is the development of multiple access transmission protocols that will enable the voice and data terminals to efficiently share the terminal to base station wireless channel. Reservation Random Access (RRA) protocols are used for voice traffic, and multiple random access contention protocols are used for data traffic. The RRA protocols used enable the data terminals to precisely determine the end of voice packet contention periods, therefore providing a natural separation between voice and data contention. Such voice data integration mechanisms allow the voice contending terminals to resolve their contention without any interference from the data terminals. Data contention resolution does not degrade the voice performance, since it follows the voice contention resolution. The above approach is a promising alternative to other existing proposals due to its superior data packet throughput‐delay performance under steady state, and voice performance under transient conditions. Our results show that dispersed voice and data terminals can efficiently share a wireless channel.