Distributed switching and control with fast resource assignment/handoff for personal communications systems

An architecture for a combined personal, mobile, and (possibly) loop access microcellular communications system in which calls are digitized and packetized is presented. A network of microcells is utilized to communicate with the various subscribers via radio. A fast handoff/resource assignment process is introduced. It is subscriber-controlled and is jointly performed by the subscribers and base station employing the resource auction multiple access (RAMA) algorithm. In this deterministic algorithm, resource utilization is independent of traffic load. Using selected GSM parameters with RAMA, for the purpose of illustration, it is shown that, in microcells with delays of 1 μs, 1080 resource assignments per second are feasible: and with delays as high as 45 μs, 216 assignments per second are feasible