This paper presents an integrated network configuration of wired and wireless access systems for nomadic computing and discusses the virtual LAN on a wireless access system. Furthermore, different types of ad hoc networks are summarized to delineate nomadic computing styles. In terms of user mobility, the integrated network provides a seamless connection environment, so a user can move between wireless and wired networks without dropping data communication sessions. This function is critical for nomadic computing users. By defining the integrated network and employing a virtual LAN, a nomadic computing environment can be realized. This paper reviews the key issues to realize integrated networks. They are mobile management including mobile IP, virtual IP and Logical Office, a high performance MAC, and security control.

To improve the reliability and efficiency of multicast transmissions in wireless systems, a novel retransmission procedure is desired. In this paper, the representative acknowledgment scheme for reliable wireless multicast communications is proposed that offers quite a low packet loss rate. The proposed protocol carries out retransmissions in the datalink layer within the wireless region, and retransmissions do not affect the traffic in the wired region. The representative acknowledgment scheme employs both positive acknowledgment (ACK) and negative acknowledgment (NACK) to achieve reliable multicast transmissions and reduces the number of responses to be returned by forming groups of stations in the cell. One of the members in a group, called a representative station, returns a response for a received data frame while the others return a NACK if necessary. With this scheme, reliable multicast transmissions are enabled in wireless communications without spending much time as in conventional reliable multicast protocols. The performance of the proposed protocol is evaluated by numerical analyses and by computer simulation. The results show that 30% or more decrease in transmission time is achieved in a typical wireless environment.

This paper proposes a new MAC protocol and physical channel control schemes for TDMA-TDD multi-slot packet channel. The goal of this study is to support both circuit-switched and packet-switched communications on the same resources and to enable high-speed packet transmission using a multi-slot packet channel. In the proposed channel control schemes, three points are taken into account; 1) effective sharing of time slots and frequencies with minimum impact on circuit communications, 2) compatibility with the existing access protocol and equipment, and 3) dynamic allocation of uplink and downlink slots. As for the MAC protocol, we adopt BRS (Block Reservation Scheme) and adaptive access control scheme to the proposed MAC protocol. In addition, to overcome the inherent disadvantage of TDD channels, packet scheduling and access randomizing control are newly proposed in this paper. The results of throughput and delay evaluations confirm that downlink capacity can be drastically enhanced by the dynamic allocation of uplink and downlink slots while corruption under heavy traffic loads is prevented by applying the adaptive traffic load control scheme.