Multi AP strategies for SCO traffic in a Bluetooth based wireless LAN

We consider a wireless local area network (WLAN) consisting a Bluetooth access points (APs). Thus, it inherently offers both ad hoc voice and data connectivity. As Bluetooth supports synchronous circuit-oriented (SCO) traffic, the concept under study features a low-cost alternative to indoor cellular base stations. Due to the limitation of only three available SCO channels per AP, several APs can be placed in the same coverage area to satisfy voice traffic demands in hot spots. Such AP cluster will be denoted as multi AP. Three multi AP strategies for handling the SCO allocation are presented and discussed in terms of signaling and mean time to connect. Our findings show that employing multi APs significantly reduces the blocking probability. A simple dimensioning rule for the number of APs is given.