Medium access control scheme for a wireless access to an ATM network

According to the present invention, an adaptive and efficient MAC protocol for wireless access to an ATM network (32) is capable of supporting any type of ATM service class with associated Quality of Services parameters. An ATM cell-switched architecture is utilised in which several ATM Mobile Terminals (10,12,14,16) within a given geographic cell (small cells covering a range of several tens of meters) communicate with an ATM Access Point (18,20) using radio frequency channels, which is connected to an infrastructure ATM network by the means of conventional ATM links. Mobile Terminals can operate both indoor and outdoor with limited range and have wireless access to the Access Points on the ATM network.