Managing hotspot regions in wireless/cellular networks with partial coverage picocells

ABSTRACT

In typical deployments of wireless and cellular networks, traffic hotspots can arise from the non-uniform geographic distribution of the mobile users, and the heavy-tailed nature of their network usage patterns. These hotspots of activity can degrade system performance, by increasing network utilization, wireless interference, call blocking, and even call dropping from failed handoffs for mobile users. One approach for network providers is to deploy a picocell as a targeted solution for a specific geographic region of interest. In this paper, we develop an analytical model to characterize the performance of a wireless/cellular network augmented with picocells. Our numerical results illustrate several tradeoffs between network cost, call blocking, and call dropping. Our model provides insights on how many picocells to deploy, where to place them, and their performance impacts.

References

1. X. Chao, M. Miyazawa, and M. Pinedo, Queueing Networks: Customer Signals and Product Form Solution. Wiley, 1999.,
2. S. Chung and J. Lee, "Performance Analysis and Over flowed Traffic Characterization in Multiservice Hierarchical Wireless Systems", IEEE Transactions on Wireless Communications, Vol.4, pp. 904--918, 2006.
3. A. Erlang, "Solution of Some Problems in the Theory of Probabilities of Significance in Automatic Telephone Exchanges", In The Life and Works of A. K. Erlang, E. Brockmeyer, H. Halstrom, and A. Jenson, editors, 1948.
4. Y. Fang and Y. Zhang, "Call Admission Control Schemas and Performance Analysis in Wireless Mobile Networks", IEEE Transactions on Vehicular Technology, Vol. 51, pp. 371--382, 2002.
5. L. Greenstein, C. Lin, and R. Gitlin, "A Microcell/Macrocell Cellular Architecture for Low and High-mobility Wireless Users", IEEE Journal on Selected Areas in Communication, Vol. 11, pp. 885--891, 1993.
6. E. Halepovic and C. Williamson, "Characterizing and Modeling User Mobility in a Cellular Data Network", Proceedings of ACM PE-WASUN 2005, Montreal, QC, pp. 71--78, October 2005.
7. D. Hong and S. Rappaport, "Traffic Model and Performance Analysis for Cellular Mobile Telephone Systems with Prioritized and Non-prioritized Handoff Procedures", IEEE Transactions on Vehicular Technology, Vol. 35, pp. 77--92, 1986.
8. X. Lagrange and P. Godlewski, "Performance of a Hierarchical Cellular Network with Mobility-dependent Handover Strategies", Proceedings of Vehicular Technology Conference, Vol. 3, pp. 1868--1872, 1996.
9. W. Li and X. Chao, "Modeling and Performance Evaluation of a Cellular Mobile Network", IEEE/ACM Transactions on Networking, Vol. 12, pp. 131--145, 2004.
10. J. Luo and A. Alfa, "Performance Analysis of a Mobile Cell Station in a Wireless Network with Realistic Handoff Calls", Proceedings of SCS SPECTS 2005, Cherry Hill, NJ, pp. 235--244, July 2005.
11. T. Rappaport, Wireless Communications: Principles and Practice, 2nd edition, Prentice Hall, 2001.
12. W. Shan, P. Fan, and Y. Pan. "Performance Evaluation of a Hierarchical Cellular Communication Networks", IEEE Transactions on Parallel and Distributed Systems, Vol.14, pp. 72--83, 2003.
13. S. Thajchyapong and J. Peha, "Mobility Patterns in Microcellular Wireless Networks", I EEE Transactions on Mobile Computing, Vol.5, pp. 52--63, 2006.
14. V. Vakili, A. Aziminejad, and M. Dehbozorgi, "A Novel Speed-sensitive Bidirectional Over flow and Handdown Resource Allocation Strategy for Hierarchical Cellular Networks", Proceedings of 1st International Symposium on Information and Communication Technology, Dublin,Ireland, pp. 126--131, 2003.
15. S. Wie, J. Jang, B. Shin, and D. Cho, "Handoff Analysis of the Hierarchical Cellular System", IEEE Transactions on Vehicular Technology, Vol. 49, pp. 2027--2036, 2000.
16. C. Williamson, E. Halepovic, H. Sun, and Y. Wu, "Characterization of CDMA 2000 Cellular Data Network Traffic", Proceedings of 5th International IEEE Workshop on Wireless Local Networks (WLN 2005), Sydney, Australia, November 2005.
17. K. Yeo and C. Jun, "Modeling and Analysis of Hierarchical Cellular Networks with General Distributions of Call and Cell Residence Times", IEEE Transactions on Vehicular Technology, Vol. 51, pp. 1 361--1374, 2002.

Index Terms

• General and reference

  • Cross-computing tools and techniques

    • Performance

• Networks

  • Network architectures

  • Network protocols