Multi AP concepts for SCO traffic in a Bluetooth based radio infrastructure network

We consider a radio infrastructure network (RIN), which consists of Bluetooth access points (APs) to provide services to ad hoc users. The RIN inherently supports both voice and data connectivity. Since Bluetooth offers the establishment of synchronous circuit-oriented (SCO) traffic, the concept under study features a low-cost alternative to indoor cellular base stations. However, a single AP can serve a maximum of only three SCO channels and may not be capable of satisfying the voice traffic demands in hot spots. In order to offer more bandwidth in a location with high voice traffic, two or more APs may be placed in the same coverage area. Respective AP clusters are denoted as multi APs. Three multi AP concepts for doing the SCO allocation are presented and discussed. Our findings show that employing multi APs significantly reduces the blocking probability.