A Channel Access Structure for Wideband ISDN

To be fully integrated, the Integrated Service Digital Network (ISDN) arena is preparing an evolution from its current narrowband structure (at basic and primary access rates) to a futuristic wideband structure where access rates will be capable of supporting services beyond 100 Mbits/s. A wideband channel structure for ISDN, supplementing the narrowband channel standards, is thus needed. This paper presents a channel structure in which the access bandwidth is organized in a hierarchy of channels of increasing speeds. Channels at a given speed level accommodate services with specific bandwidth and holding time requirements. However, to improve performance, the access interface uses a control strategy whereby a service request at a given level can overflow to a lower level for access at lower bit rate. The performance, in terms of access delay and access throughput, of this access scheme is analyzed. Numerical results are provided for the special case of an interface with two levels of channels. These results show that a significant improvement in access performance can be obtained with the overflow mechanism of the access control discipline used.