Design and performance of radio access protocols in WATMnet, a prototype wireless ATM network

摘要

We provide an experimental view of radio access protocol design in wireless ATM networks. A proof-of-concept prototype, WATMnet, was developed at NEC USA C & C Research Labs, Princeton, NJ. WATMnet operates in the 2.4 GHz ISM band at a channel rate of 8 Mbps and provides an environment supporting video, audio, and data applications via a standard ATM API with both packet mode (ABR, UBR) and stream mode (CBR, VBR) services. The prototype consists of notebook computers (NEC Versa) and base stations both equipped with wireless network interface cards (WNIC). This prototype system is used to discuss the design of proposed medium access control (MAC), and data link control (DLC) protocols. Experimental results from the performance evaluation of these protocol layers, and their impact on transport layer services in the prototype system are presented.