An OFDM-TDMA/SA MAC Protocol with QoS Constraints for Broadband Wireless LANs

Orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) is an important technique to support high speed transmission of broadband traffic in wireless networks, especially broadband wireless local area networks (LANs). Based on OFDM, a new multiple access scheme, called OFDM-TDMA with subcarrier allocation (OFDM-TDMA/SA), is proposed in this paper. It provides more flexibility in resource allocation than other multiple access schemes such as OFDM-TDMA, OFDM-frequency division multiple access (OFDM-FDMA), and orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA). With OFDM-TDMA/SA, a medium access control (MAC) is designed for broadband wireless LANs. It optimizes bit allocation in subcarriers so that maximum bits are transmitted in each OFDM symbol under a frequency selective fading environment. The OFDM-TDMA/SA MAC protocol also supports three classes of traffic such as guaranteed, controlled-load, and best effort services. Based on the optimum subcarrier bit-allocation algorithm and considering heterogeneous QoS constraints of multimedia traffic, a hierarchical scheduling scheme is proposed to determine the subcarriers and time slots in which a mobile terminal can transmit packets. In such a way, the OFDM-TDMA/SA MAC protocol significantly increases system throughput in a frequency selective fading environment and guarantees QoS of multimedia traffic. Computer simulation is carried out to evaluate the performance of the OFDM-TDMA/SA MAC protocol. Results show that the new MAC protocol outperforms other MAC protocols for OFDM-based wireless LANs.