Self-control cyclic access with time division-a MAC proposal for the HFC system

The IEEE 802.14 standard committee is currently working on a project to find a cost-effective means of providing access to integrated networks for people to enjoy multimedia programs and to work at home. An advanced system based on the CATV system called hybrid fiber coax (HFC) is being studied. Since some properties of the HFC system preclude the possibility of directly using existing medium access control protocols for its data link layer, a MAC scheme based on time division is discussed in this paper.