The tree-search resource auction multiple access (TRAMA) protocol for wireless personal communications

Abstract

Future high density wireless communication systems will place large demands upon the signaling channel between the mobile terminals and the fixed network infrastructure. One such signaling channel protocol is resource auction multiple access (RAMA). This paper evaluates the performance of a low complexity extension to RAMA called tree-search RAMA (TRAMA). TRAMA employs a close variant of a classic tree search mechanism to more effectively utilize a given bandwidth. We derive bounds on the delay-throughput characteristics of TRAMA. Under heavy traffic conditions where RAMA is unusable TRAMA is able to operate with finite average delay. For light to moderate traffic the average delay performance is only slightly better for TRAMA. However TRAMA operates with a lower variance of delay. Furthermore, the variance decreases when the average offered traffic increases. We show that this implies that TRAMA is less sensitive to the spatial and temporal variability of a mobile wireless environment.