Wireless ATM: limits, challenges, and proposals

There has been an increased interest in the topic of “wireless ATM”. The subject matter raises interest due to the potential combination of two of the hottest topics in communications of the mid-1990s, but at the same time raises a natural question as to its viability, and sometimes even its desirability. In this article the authors survey potential applications of wireless ATM and describe what is usually meant by wireless ATM, why it may make sense, and some of the proposals to build systems based on it. The emphasis in this article is on the physical layer, the data link layer, and the access layer. The authors also present general observations on each of these layers, and some research solutions to these problems. Mobility issues and interoperability with the existing networks are addressed. Finally, the authors list some of the proposals to build wireless ATM systems from the literature