Data traffic performance evaluation of a packet access protocol for microcellular radio systems

This paper evaluates the data traffic performance of a centralized, packet access protocol for microcellular radio systems. Each cell includes a population of dispersed speech and data users that convey packets to a central base station by means of a slotted radio channel. An out-slot access scheme is used, in which the slots are divided into contention slots, for sending transmission requests, and user information transmission slots. The contention slots are subdivided in minislots, to improve the access capacity. Speech contention is decoupled from data contention, having speech priority over data. A free access, stack algorithm is used for handling data contention. A memoryless channel, with capture and errors, is considered. The effects of speech traffic on data performances are evaluated. A sectorized, microcellular example is studied.