A packet channel sharing protocol for dynamic channel assignment systems

A major trend in mobile communications is the development of digital cordless telephone systems such as PHS and DECT for personal communications. These systems offer higher channel speeds than existing cellular systems, and should support data transmission as well as voice. This paper proposes a new packet channel provisioning method for sharing TDMA radio channels with circuit-switched calls for dynamic channel assignment systems. The method is characterized by a two step random-access mechanism; the first step is carrier sensing to obtain an available TDMA channel for packet transmission. The next step is the application of a reservation-grant based random-access protocol for multiplexing terminals on the packet channel. The characteristics of this protocol are evaluated using a computer simulation based on a 4-channel TDMA/TDD. The results clarify the advantage of the method in terms of channel efficiency.