Performance analysis of a multiple access protocol for voice and data support in multiuser broadband wireless LANs

Wireless Local Area Networks (WLANs) is one of the most promising access technologies for the upcoming fourth-generation wireless communication systems. In the last few years, several research efforts have been devoted to investigate possible multiple access schemes capable of supporting real-time traffic as well as best-effort data transmissions. In particular, the use of suitable transmission schemes allows not only to achieve higher data-rates, but also to perform resource allocation in order to guarantee specific service requirements. In this paper we propose a medium access control (MAC) scheme for a WLAN supporting real-time (voice) and best-effort (data) services, based on Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) technique. A suitable analytical approach is proposed in order to derive the performance of the proposed MAC scheme. In particular, it is shown in the paper that a high overall network capacity in terms of simultaneously active users is achieved by effectively exploiting the multiuser capabilities offered by OFDM, together with a proper service differentiation.