A characterization of the reverse control channel in the cellular system and the TACS

Mobile telephony is among the fastest growing areas of the telecommunications industry. Two of the specifications of cellular mobile telephone systems that have been widely accepted are the specifications in the USA and the UK. In this paper a performance study, applicable to both the above mentioned specifications, is presented. The principle concern is to give performance measures for the random multiple access channel that is part of the mobile system. The method used for multiplexing the population of mobile terminals over the access channel is in principle a hybrid between the methods known as CSMA/CD and BTMA. In the paper the analyses and sample results are presented, illustrating the equilibrium channel performance and the impact of the specified distributed control algorithm. The paper is concluded with a discussion of the ´observability´ of the offered load from the cell site´s point of view and a general outline of a proposed supervisory algorithm.