Performance evaluation of PRADOS: a scheduling algorithm for traffic integration in a wireless ATM network

The MAC protocol, known as MASCARA (Mobile Access Scheme based on Contention And Reservation for ATM), is an infrastructure-based, adaptive TDMA scheme, which combines reservation- and contention-based access methods to provide multiple access efficiency and Quality-of-Service (QoS) guarantees to wireless ATM terminal connections that share a common radio channel. Radio channel sharing is performed by the PRADOS (Prioritized Regulated Allocation Delay Oriented Scheduling) algorithm. In this paper we assess the capability of PRADOS to guarantee to voice and data traffic types the QoS they need. The analysis leads to the conclusion that PRADOS cannot avoid the interference between the various types of traffic. A criterion to alleviate this drawback is also outlined at the end of the paper.