A Channel Allocation Algorithm for Hot-Spot Cells in Wireless Networks

Abstract

Recent growth in mobile telephone traffic in wireless cellular networks, along with the limited number of channels available, presents a challenge for the efficient reuse of channels. Channel allocation problem becomes more complicated if one or more cells in the network become “hot-spots” for some period of time, i.e., the bandwidth resources currently available in those cells are not sufficient to sustain the needs of current users in the cells. This paper presents a new hybrid channel allocation algorithm in which the base station sends a multi-level “hotspot” notification to the central pool located at Mobile Switching Station (MSC) on each channel request that cannot be satisfied locally at the base station. This notification will request more than one channel be assigned to the requesting cell, proportional to the current hot-spot level of the cell. When a call using such a “borrowed” channel terminates, the cell may retain the channel depending upon its current hot-spot level. The simulation study of the protocol indicates that the protocol has low overhead, and it behaves similar to the Fixed Channel Allocation (FCA) scheme at high traffic and to the Dynamic Channel Allocation (DCA) scheme at low traffic loads. The proposed algorithm also offers low-overhead in terms of the number of control messages exchanged between a base station and the MSC on channel acquisition and release phases.