Abstract
In this paper, we model a wireless LAN as a cascaded system architecture which consists of an up-link channel, a switching network, and a down-link channel. This architecture inherently avoids the problems of hidden terminals and up-down collision. Based on this architecture, we propose an MAC protocol stack which consists of slotted-ALOHA protocol, token-passing ring protocol, and timed-token protocol. Their operations are consistent and interactions among them is harmonic. This protocol stack gives a proper treatment to the effect of various interferences, handover problem, and power consumption. The combination of contention and polling revealed in the stack turns out to fit the characteristics of wireless LANs and gives a very flexible and easy access to wireless communication resource. Key features and effects of important design parameters to the performance of the architecture are demonstrated and evaluated by simulation results which also show excellent response performance of this protocol architecture.