A framework for design and evaluation of admission control algorithms in multi-service mobile networks

Abstract

Supporting quality of service (QoS) guarantees in wireless networks requires that admission control algorithms incorporate user mobility, and limit the probability that sufficient resources are unavailable when a user must handoff. We develop a framework for designing admission control algorithms in wireless networks that support guaranteed QoS. First, we devise a taxonomy to explore the mathematical structure and practical design tradeoffs encountered in developing admission control algorithms. We next introduce the perfect knowledge admission control algorithm, which, while unrealizable in practice, serves as a benchmark for evaluating admission control algorithms by using future knowledge of handoff events to exactly control the admissible region. Finally, we perform an extensive set of simulations (including trace-driven simulations) and, applying the perfect knowledge algorithm, we study several admission control algorithm from the literature, identify a number of key system parameters for algorithm design, and quantify the fundamental tradeoffs in complexity and accuracy as revealed by the taxonomy.