On the performance of packet-switched cellular networks for wireless data communications

Cellular frequency reuse is known to be an efficient method to allow many wireless telephone subscribers to share the same frequency band. However, for wireless data and multi-media communications optimum cell layouts differ essentially from typical solutions for telephone systems. We argue that wireless radio systems for bursty message traffic preferably use the entire bandwidth in each cell. Packet queuing delays are derived for a network with multipath fading channels, shadowing, path loss and discontinuously transmitting base stations. Interference between cells can be reduced by appropriately scheduling transmissions or by spatial collision resolution.Portions of this paper have been presented at the IEEE International Conferences on Personal Indoor Mobile Radio Communications (PIMRC) of 1993 in Yokohama and 1994 in The Hague.