Message ring-based channel reallocation for cellular wireless networks

Abstract

Wireless communication suffers from many restrictions due to the inherent limitations of wireless media and existing wireless communication protocols. Limited radio frequency spectrum (or bandwidth) is one of the major issues in wireless communication. Wireless multiple access techniques were first developed to enhance channel bandwidth utilisation under limited frequency. Different channel allocation (or channel assignment) schemes have been developed to further increase the utilisation of limited frequency. In this paper we propose a frequency reallocation scheme, message ring-based channel reallocation (MRCR) to improve channel utilisation in wireless communication systems. MRCR uses software agents (known as BS ring agents) to circulate and maintain a message ring that carries bandwidth information. The ring agent is also responsible for borrowing channels and locking the co-channels to avoid interference. MRCR uses channel re-arrangement techniques to improve performance. We present results of simulation studies to demonstrate the effectiveness of the MRCR scheme. Simulation experiments were carried out to evaluate the performance of the MRCR scheme under different mobility environments, namely: (i) high; (ii) medium; and (iii) low. Tests were also conducted under normal and heavy traffic environments to compare the MRCR scheme with other existing schemes. Results show that the MRCR scheme performs better than other schemes under varying mobility and traffic load environments.