Use of ABR flow control in wireless ATM systems

Abstract

This paper will propose how available bit rate (ABR), and in particular the flow control mechanisms inherent to it, could be applied to provide consistent resource management of both fixed and, in particular, radio resources in a wireless ATM network integrated into fixed ATM. The paper also includes some preliminary simulation results, showing the efficiency of the proposed scheme. The ABR flow control mechanism can successfully be used also to protect the capacity limited radio interface in a wireless ATM system. This is useful when wireless ATM systems must support bursty data traffic. Our simulations have shown that the proposed way of using the ABR flow control allows efficient radio interface operation with a rather limited and predictable amount of buffering capacity in the access points. This is essential in providing adequate cell loss performance of low cost access points. The radio interface utilisation is also quite high, one more important characteristic when designing wireless systems.