IEEE Network • November/December 199752

synchronous transfer mode (ATM) has been adopt-ed as the switching and transport infrastructure for the future broadband integrated services digital network (B-ISDN). The extension of broadband services to the wireless environment is being driven mainly by the proliferation of multimedia portable computers, personal digital assistants, and personal information assistants [1]. Although there are various competing technologies that may provide these services, such as third-generation cellular net-works (e.g., personal communications services, PCS) and wire-less local area networks (WLANs), wireless ATM (W-ATM) has the advantage of offering end-to-end multimedia capabili-ties with guaranteed quality of service (QoS). Furthermore, ATM can handle both packet mode and synchronous services. Several issues have to be resolved in order to arrive at a W