A distributed circuit-switched approach for supporting the deployment of high speed wireless personal communication services in urban areas through the interconnection of base stations via metropolitan area networks (MANs) is proposed. Broadband MANs minimize traffic congestion by dynamic sharing of link capacity and by serving as distributed switches for partitioning call control functions. While the DQDB protocol readily supports distributed packet-switching over the IEEE 802.6 MAN, isochronous traffic such as voice and video is best supported by circuit-switched connections. The authors present an enhanced bi-state pre-arbitrated (PA) transport mechanism, and associated call control and handoff management techniques, which enable distributed circuit-switching over the MAN. These capabilities are not currently addressed in the 802.6 standards. The bi-state PA transport mechanism facilitates statistical multiplexing of variable rate isochronous traffic sources. The network capacity is constrained by the call setup delay performance, and is analyzed by simulations. Alternative signaling architectures, involving different placements of call control network elements, are evaluated. The effects of erasure nodes, and close bus versus open bus architectures, are considered. The overlap inter-MAN call setup procedure is proposed to reduce delays. Different call handoff procedures are formulated according to the type of handoff and the resulting change in call connectivity. Most handoffs are intra-MAN, requiring simple procedures with short delays.>

A distributed microcellular architecture based on the IEEE 802.6 Metropolitan Area Network (MAN) is proposed, and is shown to meet anticipated personal communications service (PCS) needs. A method is presented to calculate MAN coverage in urban areas, and is used to demonstrate coverage of approximately 50 city blocks per MAN. A distributed subscriber database architecture is proposed to facilitate call setup, tracking of roamers and handoffs. To fully utilize MAN bandwidth, a quick method for the heat stations to switch on/off isochronous slots is proposed to facilitate adaptation to PCS traffic level variations. Call setup and handoff procedures are detailed. The PCS signaling overhead is calculated to be 15% of the capacity required to carry voice traffic.>