Fairness in Cellular Mobile Networks

Channel allocation algorithms for channelized cellular systems are discussed from a new perspective, viz., fairness of allocation. The concepts of relative and absolute fairness are introduced and discussed. It will be shown that under certain reasonable assumptions, there exists an absolute (max-min) fair carried traffic intensity vector (a vector describing the traffic carried in the cells of the system). We also show that this vector is unique. We describe some properties of the max-min fair carried traffic intensity vector in an asymptotic limit where the traffic and the number of channels are scaled together. For each traffic pattern, we determine a fixed channel allocation which attains this max-min fair carried traffic intensity vector independent of the value of the offered traffic, in the same asymptotic limit. Finally, we discuss a tradeoff between being max-min fair and trying to maximize revenue. We conclude this correspondence by discussing some possible extensions of our work

Mobility: a double-edged sword for HSPA networks

This paper presents an empirical study on the performance of mobile High Speed Packet Access (HSPA, a 3.5G cellular standard) networks in Hong Kong via extensive field tests. Our study, from the viewpoint of end users, covers virtually all possible mobile scenarios in urban areas, including subways, trains, off-shore ferries and city buses. We have confirmed that mobility has largely negative impacts on the performance of HSPA networks, as fast-changing wireless environment causes serious service deterioration or even interruption. Meanwhile our field experiment results have shown unexpected new findings and thereby exposed new features of the mobile HSPA networks, which contradict commonly held views. We surprisingly find out that mobility can improve fairness of bandwidth sharing among users and traffic flows. Also the triggering and final results of handoffs in mobile HSPA networks are unpredictable and often inappropriate, thus calling for fast reacting fallover mechanisms. We have conducted in-depth research to furnish detailed analysis and explanations to what we have observed. We conclude that mobility is a double-edged sword for HSPA networks. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first public report on a large scale empirical study on the performance of commercial mobile HSPA networks

Exact Resource Allocation for Fair Wireless Relay

In relay-enabled cellular networks, the intertwined nature of network agents calls for complex schemes to allocate wireless resources. Resources need to be distributed among mobile users while considering how relay resources are allocated, and constrained by the traffic rate achievable by base stations and over backhaul links. In this work, we derive a resource allocation scheme that achieves max-min fairness across mobile users. Furthermore, the optimal allocation is found with linear complexity with respect to the number of mobile users and relays

Factors Affecting QoS in Tanzania Cellular Networks

Quality of service in cellular communication system is a topic that recently has raised much interest for many researchers. This paper presents the findings obtained from the study on factors affecting QoS in Tanzania cellular networks. The study was carried out in Dodoma Municipal, Tanzania. The study employed cross sectional research design. Information was gathered from structured questionnaire of 240 subscribers during the study of quality of service for the four leading cellular networks in Tanzania. Both qualitative and quantitative data from field survey were collected and analyzed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences and Excel software. The study findings show that the major factors that degrade QoS in Tanzania cellular networks are inadequate network infrastructure, lack of fairness from service providers and little efforts taken by the government in enforcing the national agreed standards. Other factors are lack of reliable end to end systems, geographical terrain, low quality handsets, poor government monitoring on standards and lack of subscriber skills and training.Comment: 7 Page