An investigation of reservation random access algorithms for voice-data integration in microcellular wireless environments

We present the results of a simulation study that explores the performance of two promising reservation random access (RRA) protocols for transmitting voice packets over a common radio broadcast channel in a microcellular radio environment. The RRA-two cell and RRA-three cell algorithms provide a mechanism that enables all of the terminals within a microcell to differentiate between available voice and available data time slots. By separating the two distinct types of transmissions and resolving the contending voice packets first, the priority of the voice traffic is enforced; and, each protocol can be combined with efficient collision resolution random access protocols for transmitting data packets. Such a voice-data integration mechanism eliminates the potential voice degradation caused by competition between voice and data terminals for available slots. Our results show that the protocols provide stable and robust performance under adverse channel conditions; and that they can be employed to sustain voice-data integration under heavy system loading.