Wideband wireless data access based on OFDM and dynamic packet assignment

The rapid growth of wireless voice subscribers; the growth of the Internet; and the increasing use of portable computing devices suggest that wireless Internet access will rise rapidly over the next few years. Transmission rates are currently only about 10 kb/s for large cell systems. Third generation wireless access and the evolution of second-generation systems will provide bit rates of 50 to 384 kb/s in macrocellular systems. This paper discusses packet data transmission rates of 2 to 5 Mb/s in macrocellular environments and up to 10 Mb/s in microcellular and indoor environments as a complementary service to evolving second and third generation wireless systems. Dynamic packet assignment for high efficiency resource management and packet admission; OFDM at the physical layer with interference suppression, space-time coding and frequency diversity; as well as smart antennas to obtain good power and spectral efficiency are discussed.