TurboCell Adaptive Dynamic Polling

TurboCell overcomes many of the problems inherent in wireless networks by centralizing control of the wireless network at the TurboCell Base Station. The TurboCell Base Station uses a highly-optimized polling technique to tell remote wireless stations when they can transmit.

First of all, TurboCell polling is adaptive. Each station's polling interval is determined by a number of independent factors, including the remote station's recent usage history. The total number of currently connected systems (among other variables) is used to determine maximum and minimum polling intervals.

Second, TurboCell polling is dynamic. As remote stations transmit less frequently (i.e. they do not have a packet to transmit when polled), they are polled less often. For example, a station which has been dormant for several minutes may not be polled for an extended period of time. Stations that have data ready when to transmit polled are polled more often. This enables TurboCell to make optimum use of the wireless bandwidth, while still maintaining a high level of "fairness" between wireless clients.

To avoid problems associated with pure polling schemes, TurboCell also employs a "free for all" period to enable stations that have data available but are low in the polling queue to transmit without much delay. The "free for all" period allows a station that may not have transmitted for a long period of time to begin transmitting once again and move to a higher priority in the polling scheme.

The determination of polling intervals based on a complex combination of factors is finely tuned and the result of years of research into wireless performance in production environments. TurboCell Polling and the associated "free for all" period, combined with Superpacket Aggregation, allow wireless networks running TurboCell to perform at the highest rate possible.