Traffic studies for DSA policies in a simple cellular context with packet services

Abstract

DSA (dynamic spectrum allocation) techniques are very challenging when the quality of service has to be guaranteed in a flexible spectrum situation. In this paper, we present and analyze DSA policies for packet services in cellular context. A centralized model, where a meta-operator shares a common spectrum among different operators, is considered. We focus on two criteria for the policies design: the total welfare (sum of operators' rewards), and the blocking probability. We go through two steps to pass from the actual FSA (fixed spectrum allocation) situation into DSA. First, DSA algorithms depend on the arrival rates. Second, DSA algorithms depend on both the arrival rates as well as the number of active users. Targeting the reward maximization shows to be inefficient when the blocking probability has to be guaranteed. However policies targeting a blocking probability threshold, achieve greater rewards then FSA rewards. We also present a heuristic DSA algorithm that takes into consideration: the arrival rates, the number of active users and the blocking probability. The algorithm gives a very close blocking probability to the one achieved using FSA, while the obtained reward significantly exceeds the FSA reward.