Reduction of Signaling Overhead in Beyond 3G MAC-Protocols using Frame Descriptor Tables

Abstract:
This paper focuses on mitigating the amount of overhead arising from the control signaling of frame-based Medium Access Control-protocols. In the wireless world framebased Medium Access Control-protocols with a centrally controlling entity have the inherent necessity to inform associated stations about the resources they have been scheduled. Most state-of-the-art protocols supporting Quality of Service perform the related signaling on a per-frame basis which leads to a very high dynamic in respect to the layout of the frame. When the control information is designed to describe the whole frame layout in each frame, this results in a high percentage of control data compared to user data to be transferred. As the possible dynamic of the frame layout potentially is not needed and rather it is favorable to keep the resources reserved for more than one frame this can result in a diminished need for signaling. This paper introduces the Frame Descriptor Table which enables the realization of a MAC-frame based protocol with reduced overhead regarding the control signaling.