POSTMAN: Polling-based scheduling strategy for multiple access control in wireless ATM networks

In this paper, we propose a polling-based scheduling strategy for multiple access control in wireless ATM networks (POSTMAN). A pure centrally control led polling scheme is adopted in our protocol, therefore no contention chan nel is needed. The POSTMAN protocol assumes a TDMA/TDD frame format, by whi ch wireless bandwidth is allocated flexibly both among multiple mobile term inals and between downlink and uplink channels. When polling the uplink tra ffic; the POSTMAN needs no priori traffic model to predict the cell arrival s. Instead, a token queue and an ABR buffer status table are used in the ba se station. Simulation results show that the POSTMAN protocol is robust in most cases and can work steadily under very high network load conditions.