QoS provisioning in cellular networks based on mobility prediction techniques

In cellular networks, QoS degradation or forced termination may occur when there are insufficient resources to accommodate handoff requests. One solution is to predict the trajectory of mobile terminals so as to perform resource reservations in advance. With the vision that future mobile devices are likely to be equipped with reasonably accurate positioning capability, we investigate how this new feature may be used for mobility predictions. We propose a mobility prediction technique that incorporates road topology information, and describe its use for dynamic resource reservation. Simulation results are presented to demonstrate the improvement in reservation efficiency compared with several other schemes.     

Call admission control in mobile cellular networks: a comprehensive survey

Call admission control (CAC) is a key element in the provision of guaranteed quality of service (QoS) in wireless networks. The design of CAC algorithms for mobile cellular networks is especially challenging given the limited and highly variable resources, and the mobility of users encountered in such networks. This article provides a survey of admission control schemes for cellular networks and the research in this area. Our goal is to provide a broad classification and thorough discussion of existing CAC schemes. We classify these schemes based on factors such as deterministic/stochastic guarantees, distributed/local control and adaptivity to traffic conditions. In addition to this, we present some modeling and analysis basics to help in better understanding the performance and efficiency of admission control schemes in cellular networks. We describe several admission control schemes and compare them in terms of performance and complexity. Handoff prioritization is the common characteristic of these schemes. We survey different approaches proposed for achieving handoff prioritization with a focus on reservation schemes. Moreover, optimal and near‐optimal reservation schemes are presented and discussed. Also, we overview other important schemes such as those designed for multi‐service networks and hierarchical systems as well as complete knowledge schemes and those using pricing for CAC. Finally, the paper concludes on the state of current research and points out some of the key issues that need to be addressed in the context of CAC for future cellular networks. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Call Level QoS Performance under Variable User Mobilities in Wireless Networks

The concept of adaptive admission control in cellular wireless networks ensures quality of service by reserving bandwidth for handoff calls. It is equally important in current second generation wireless systems as well as in the future IMT-2000 and UMTS systems. In order to ensure bounded call level QoS we propose to track the changes of the handoff call arrival rate and integrate this information in the admission algorithm. However, the handoff call arrival rate can vary when the new call arrival rate and/or user mobility vary. In our previous work we have analysed bandwidth reservation techniques needed to maintain a stable call level QoS when new call arrival rate is changing in a group, or groups, of wireless cells. This paper analyses bandwidth reservation techniques that are adaptive to the user mobility as well as to the changing new call arrival rate, and which can ensure stable call level QoS over a range of user mobilities. We also propose the technique to derive bandwidth reservation policy when the QoS characteristics over a range of user mobilities are given.     

Adaptive and predictive downlink resource management in next-generation CDMA networks

Guard channels have been proposed to minimize handoff call dropping when mobile hosts move from one cell to another. Code-division multiple-access (CDMA) systems are power- and interference-limited. Therefore, guard capacity in CDMA networks is soft, that is, a given capacity corresponds to variable number of connections. Thus, it is essential to adjust the guard capacity in response to changes in traffic conditions and user mobility. We propose two schemes for managing downlink CDMA radio resources: guard capacity adaptation based on dropping (GAD), and guard capacity adaptation based on prediction and dropping (GAPD). In both schemes, the guard capacity of a cell is dynamically adjusted so as to maintain the handoff dropping rate at a target level. In the second scheme, there is an additional, frequent adjustment component where guard capacity is adjusted based on soft handoff prediction. We show through extensive simulations that GAD and GAPD control the handoff dropping rate effectively under varying traffic conditions and system parameters. We also find that GAPD is more robust than GAD to temporal traffic variations and changes in control parameters.     

Aggregate History of User Mobility Pattern for QoS Provisioning in Multimedia Wireless Networks

Multimedia traffic is expected to be included in the next generation of wireless networks. As in wireline networks, the wireless network must also be capable of providing guaranteed quality-of-service (QoS) over the lifetime of mobile connections. In this paper, a bandwidth reservation scheme incorporating a user mobility prediction is proposed to manage the QoS of the networks. The mobility prediction scheme is developed based on the aggregate history of mobile users. Based on the mobility prediction, bandwidth is reserved to guarantee the uninterrupted handoff process. Simulation results demonstrate that the proposed scheme can guarantee the required QoS requirements in terms of handoff call dropping probability and new call blocking probability while maintaining efficient bandwidth utilization.     

Approaches to resource reservation for migrating real-time sessions in future mobile wireless networks

This paper presents two novel frameworks for session admission control and resource reservation in the context of next generation mobile and cellular networks. We also devised a special scheme that avoids per-user reservation signaling overhead in order to meet scalability requirements needed for next generation multi-access networks. The first proposal, Distributed Call Admission Control with Aggregate Resource Reservation (VR), uses mobility prediction based on mobile positioning system location information and takes into account the expected bandwidth to be used by calls handing off to and from neighboring cells within a configurable estimation time window. In conjunction, a novel concept called virtual reservation has been devised to prevent per-user reservation. Our second proposal, Local Call Admission Control and Time Series-based Resource Reservation, takes into account the expected bandwidth to be used by calls handed off from neighboring cells based only on local information stored into the current cell a user is seeking admission to. To this end, we suggest the use of two time series-based models for predicting handoff load: the Trigg and Leach (TL), which is an adaptive exponential smoothing technique, and Autoregressive Integrated Moving Average (ARIMA) that uses the Box and Jenkins methodology. It is worth to emphasize that the use of bandwidth prediction based on ARIMA technique still exist for wireless networks. The novelty of our approach is to build an adaptive framework based on ARIMA technique that takes into account the measured handoff dropping probability in order to tuning the prediction time window size so increasing the prediction accuracy. The proposed schemes are compared through simulations with the fixed guard channel (GC) and other optimized dynamic reservation-based proposals present in the literature. The results show that our schemes outperform many others and that the simpler local proposal based on TL can grant nearly similar levels of handoff dropping probability as compared to those from more the complex distributed approach.     

Mobility modeling, location tracking, and trajectory prediction inwireless ATM networks

Wireless ATM networks require efficient mobility management to cope with frequent mobile handoff and rerouting of connections. Although much attention has been given in the literature to network architecture design to support wide-area mobility in public ATM networks, little has been done to the important issue of user mobility estimation and prediction to improve the connection reliability and bandwidth efficiency of the underlying system architecture. This paper treats the problem by developing a hierarchical user mobility model that closely represents the movement behavior of a mobile user, and that, when used with appropriate pattern matching and Kalman filtering techniques, yields an accurate location prediction algorithm, HLP, or hierarchical location prediction, which provides necessary information for advance resource reservation and advance optimal route establishment in wireless ATM networks     

A mobility prediction architecture based on contextual knowledge and spatial conceptual maps

User Mobility prediction represents a key component in assisting handoff management, resource reservation, and service preconfiguration. However, most of the existing approaches presume that the user travels in an a priori known pattern with some regularity; an assumption that may not always hold. This paper presents a novel framework for user mobility prediction that can accurately predict the traveling trajectory and destination using knowledge of user's preferences, goals, and analyzed spatial information without imposing any assumptions about the availability of users' movements history. This framework thus incorporates the notion of combining user context and spatial conceptual maps in the prediction process. The main objective of this notion is to circumvent the difficulties that arise in predicting the user's future location when adequate knowledge about the history of user's traveling patterns is not available. Using concepts of evidential reasoning of Dempster-Shafer's theory, the user's navigation behavior is captured by gathering pieces of evidence concerning different groups of candidate future locations. These groups are then refined to predict the user's future location when evidence accumulates using the Dempster rule of combination. Simulation results are presented to demonstrate the performance of the proposed framework.     

A Predictive Bandwidth Reservation Scheme Using Mobile Positioning and Road Topology Information

In cellular networks, an important practical issue is how to limit the handoff dropping probability efficiently. One possible approach is to perform dynamic bandwidth reservation based on mobility predictions. With the rapid advances in mobile positioning technology, and the widespread availability of digital road maps previously designed for navigational devices, we propose a predictive bandwidth reservation scheme built upon these timely opportunities. In contrast to the common practice of utilizing only incoming handoff predictions at each cell to compute the reservations, our scheme is more efficient as it innovatively utilizes both incoming and outgoing handoff predictions; it can meet the same target handoff dropping probability by blocking fewer new calls. The individual base stations are responsible for the computations, which are shown to be simple enough to be performed in real-time. We evaluate the scheme via simulation, along with five other schemes for comparison. Simulation results show that those schemes that rely on positioning information are significantly more efficient than those that do not. Our scheme's additional use of the road topology information further improves upon this advantage, bringing the efficiency closer to the bound set by a benchmark scheme that assumes perfect knowledge about future handoffs.     

Adaptive channel reservation scheme for soft handoff in DS-CDMAcellular systems

Soft handoff techniques in direct-sequence code-division multiple-access (DS-CDMA) systems provide mobile calls with seamless connections between adjacent cells. Channel reservation schemes are used to give high priority to more important soft handoff attempts over new call attempts. However, since the number of soft handoff attempts varies according to environmental conditions, fixed reservation schemes for handoff attempts can be inefficient. An adaptive channel reservation scheme is herein proposed to control the size of reservation capacity according to varying the number of soft handoff attempts. The proposed scheme also includes a balancing procedure between soft handoff failure and new call blocking to maximize the system capacity. To evaluate the performance of the proposed scheme, a Markovian model is developed that considers the interference-limited capacity effect of DS-CDMA systems. The analytical result shows that the proposed scheme yields a considerable enhancement in terms of new call blocking and soft handoff failure probabilities when compared with the conventional fixed channel reservation scheme     

A comparative study of bandwidth reservation and admission control schemes in QoS‐sensitive cellular networks

This paper compares five different schemes – called CHOI, NAG, AG, BHARG, and NCBF – for reserving bandwidths for handoffs and admission control for new connection requests in QoS‐sensitive cellular networks. CHOI and NAG are to keep the handoff dropping probability below a target value, AG is to guarantee no handoff drops through per‐connection bandwidth reservation, and BHARG and NCBF use another type of per‐connection bandwidth reservation. CHOI predicts the bandwidth required to handle handoffs by estimating possible handoffs from adjacent cells, then performs admission control for each newly‐requested connection. On the other hand, NAG predicts the total required bandwidth in the current cell by estimating both incoming and outgoing handoffs at each cell. AG requires the set of cells to be traversed by the mobile with a newly‐requested connection, and reserves bandwidth for each connection in each of these cells. The last two schemes reserve bandwidth for each connection in the predicted next cell of a mobile where the two schemes use different admission control policies. We adopt the history‐based mobility estimation for the first two schemes. Using extensive simulations, the five schemes are compared quantitatively in terms of (1) handoff dropping probability, connection‐blocking probability, and bandwidth utilization; (2) dependence on the design parameters; (3) dependence on the accuracy of mobility estimation; and (4) complexity. The simulation results indicate that CHOI is the most desirable in that it achieves good performance while requiring much less memory and computation than the other four schemes. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Dynamic channel reservation based on mobility in wireless ATMnetworks

We present a dynamic channel reservation scheme to improve the utilization of wireless network resources while guaranteeing the required QoS of handoff calls. The wireless channels are dynamically reserved by using the request probability determined by the mobility characteristics and channel occupancy to guarantee acceptable quality of handoff calls and keep the new call blocking probability as low as possible     

Efficient call admission control for heterogeneous services inwireless mobile ATM networks

An efficient call admission control scheme for handling heterogeneous services in wireless ATM networks is proposed. Quality-of-service provisioning of jitter bounds for constant bit rate traffic and delay bounds for variable bit rate traffic is used in the CAC scheme to guarantee predefined QoS levels for all traffic classes. To reduce the forced handoff call dropping rate, the CAC scheme gives handoff calls a higher priority than new calls by reserving an appropriate amount of resources for potential handoff calls. Resource reservation in the CAC scheme makes use of user mobility information to ensure efficient resource utilization. Simulation results show that the proposed CAC scheme can achieve both low handoff call dropping rate and high resource utilization     

Inter‐HAP handoff analysis for multi‐cell short‐endurance HAP communications systems

In this paper, we investigate an inter‐high‐altitude platform (HAP) handoff model for multi‐cell short‐endurance HAP wireless communications systems. Equations are derived to calculate system parameters, such as minimum user beamwidth and handoff opportunity (HO) interval, and system performance, such as handoff success ratio, inter‐HAP HO start rate and handoff load, when the current serving platform is replaced either for maintenance or for periodic replacement. Research results show some directions on how to select the trajectory of the platform, user beamwidth and handoff schemes. It is shown that it is better for the replacing platform to fly above and be as close as possible to the current serving platform. A higher altitude adopted by the current serving platform will allow a narrower user beamwidth. Two cellular handoff schemes are presented. It is shown that in the case of users with a wider antenna beamwidth free selection of any handoff destination cell can result in the handoff load being very high. By restricting the handoff destination cell to the cell with the same cell number within the footprints of the two platforms, the handoff traffic can be reduced to a minimum, but the two platforms are required to maintain the same relative cell layout. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

基于3GPP2框架的无线移动网络的RSVP扩展研究

本文讨论了面向固定网络设计的RSVP协议应用于无线移动网络需要解决的问题,并针对3GPP2框架下的无线移动网络提出了一种RSVP扩展方案.该方案采用隧道预留技术建立端-端主动预留,为数据连接提供服务质量保证;采用移动预测和被动预留技术在移动节点可能进入的蜂窝内提前预留无线资源,提高切换成功的概率;通过采用主动切换技术减小预留路径调整的时间,进一步提高通信的连续性.     

Joint mobility tracking and handoff in cellular networks via sequential Monte Carlo filtering

We consider the application of sequential Monte Carlo (SMC) methodology to the problem of joint mobility tracking and handoff detection in cellular wireless communication networks. Both mobility tracking and handoff detection are based on the measurements of pilot signal strengths from certain base stations. The dynamics of the system under consideration are described by a nonlinear state-space model. Mobility tracking involves an online estimation of the location and velocity of the mobile, whereas handoff detection involves an online prediction of the pilot signal strength at some future time instants. The optimal solutions to both problems are prohibitively complex due to the nonlinear nature of the system. The SMC methods are therefore employed to track the probabilistic dynamics of the system and to make the corresponding estimates and predictions. Both hard handoff and soft handoff are considered and three novel locally optimal (LO) handoff schemes are developed based on different criteria. It is seen that under the SMC framework, optimal mobility tracking and handoff detection can be implemented naturally in a joint fashion, and significant improvement is achieved over existing methods, in terms of both the tracking accuracy and the trade-off between service quality and resource utilization during handoff.     

移动IP环境下的RSVP研究

资源预留协议RSVP能够为用户提供端到端的传输带宽。为保证在移动IP下的服务质量,针对RSVP协议提出很多改进方案,如隧道RSVP,MRSVP和HMRSVP等。对宏移动和微移动下的RSVP扩展方案进行了讨论,最后提出进一步的研究方向。     

Handoff prioritization and decision schemes in wireless cellular networks: a survey

Handoff is a key element in wireless cellular networks in order to provide Quality of Service (QoS) to the users and to support users? mobility. Handoff failure will result in the forced termination of an ongoing call. From the user?s point of view, the service of a handoff request is more important, as the forced termination of an ongoing call is more annoying than the blocking of new calls. Therefore, in order to support QoS to the users and to provide ubiquitous coverage, the handoff procedure ought to be further investigated. This paper provides a comprehensive survey of the basic elements, the different types and phases of the handoff procedure. Moreover, particular interest has been given in the horizontal handoff execution phase by discussing and classifying the most recent handoff prioritization schemes into categories based on the concepts that these schemes adopt, e.g. Channel Reservation, Handoff Queueing, Channel Transferred, SubRating, Genetic and Hybrid Schemes and in the vertical handoff decision phase by presenting different decision algorithms.     

Multi-class Bandwidth Reservation Scheme Based on Mobility Prediction for Handoff in Multimedia Wireless/Mobile Cellular Networks

Next generation of wireless cellular networks aim at supporting a diverse range of multimedia services to Mobile Terminal (MT) with guaranteed Quality of Service (QoS). The challenge is to maintain the playing continuity of multimedia streams during handoff. In this paper, a bandwidth reservation scheme based on mobility prediction is proposed, to enable high accurate prediction of next crossing cell (target cell) which a MT is going to, in order to avoid too early or over reservation resulting in a waste of resources. The amount of bandwidth to be reserved is dynamically adjusted according to (a) the current position (location) and the extrapolated direction of MT and; (b) the sector and zones of the cell. A Call Admission Control scheme (CAC) is also considered to further guarantee the QoS of real time traffic. The performance of the system is evaluated through discrete event simulation of the wireless cellular environment. Simulation results show that the proposed scheme as compared to several existing schemes is able to reduce the Handoff Call Dropping Probability (HCDP) of real time traffic and the number of terminated ongoing calls of non-real time traffic. In addition, it is efficient to reduce the number of cancelled reservation and subsequently increase the system bandwidth utilization.

Capacity optimization in multiservice mobile wireless networks with multiple fractional channel reservation

In this paper, the multiple fractional channel reservation (MFCR) strategy for service differentiation is proposed. MFCR overcomes the "integer nature" of traditional channel reservation schemes (also referred to as guard channel, trunk reservation, or cutoff priority) that precludes them to achieve maximum system capacity in single- and multiservice environments. Contrary to the rest of the channel reservation schemes previously proposed in the literature on the topic, MFCR reserves, on average, real numbers of channels to prioritize new and/or handoff calls in multiple service environments. Given a set of requirements on new call blocking and forced termination probabilities for each service type, MFCR maximizes system capacity while meeting the quality of service (QoS) constraints in multiservice mobile cellular networks. It finely controls the communication service quality, by varying the average numbers of reserved channels by a fraction of one. Determining the right amount of resources (cutoff threshold or number of reserved channels) to prioritize each call type and to satisfy all QoS constraints in multiservice environments, however, is a difficult task. Selecting the optimal prioritization order is not an easy process either, as it is affected by QoS constraints, system characteristics, and resource sharing. Thus, an heuristic algorithm to determine the optimum numbers of reserved (resources) channels to achieve maximum system capacity when using the MFCR is also proposed. To our knowledge, the capacity optimization problem considering individual QoS constraints had only been addressed in single service environments. Also, a comprehensive survey on channel reservation strategies proposed in the literature has been included.