Interference-Aware Dynamic Channel Allocation Scheme for cellular networks

Daniela Martnez1, ngel G. Andrade, Anabel Martnez

Ambient Intelligence Technology Group, University of Baja California Blvd. Benito Juarez s/n, Col. Insurgentes, 21280, Mexicali, Mxico e-mail: [daniela.martinez1, aandrade, anabel.martnez]@uabc.edu.mx
Abstract Nowadays, it has created a very crowed spectrum with most frequency bands already assigned to different licensees. The basic prohibiting factor in radio spectrum reuse is interference caused by the environment or other mobile. Deploying efficient channel assignment techniques can reduce interference and increase the overall system capacity. Actual measurements illustrate, however, that the scarcity is not a result of heavy usage of the spectrum; in contrast, it is due to the inefficiency of the static frequency allocation pursued by regulators. In this paper, we present work in progress about an interference-aware dynamic channel allocation algorithm, which attempts to allocate channels to users in such a way so that the average blocking probability and forced termination in the entire system is minimized. In contrast to traditional call-by-call DCA schemes, here, we considered that the channel assignment is adaptively carried out using context information on the previous as well as the present channel. Keywords- interference-aware; dynamic channel allocation; cellular network; spectrum

spectrum will be allocated dynamically depending on need of the service and providers that in turn depends on end users demands in a time and space variant manner. Here, each node performs rapid spectrum sensing to detect spectrum holes and distributed coordination to opportunistically use them [2]. However, this requires more powerful signal analysis techniques with additional computational complexity and, there are a number of technical, economical, and regulatory challenges to be addressed for its development [18]. This general form of DSA may be suitable for cooperative networks of heterogeneous wireless system, but is unsuitable for infrastructure-based networks, such as the commercial cellular networks used by millions of end users worldwide [3]. Hence, reliable and efficient channel allocation management is vital for the growth and innovation of these wireless technologies and services in Next Generation Wireless Networks [4], [5]. Channel allocation is one of the fundamental solutions due to the fact that it determines how the available bandwidth will be managed. However, channel assignment presents a challenge because co-located wireless networks are likely to be tuned to the same channels. The resulting increase in interference can adversely affect performance. In this paper, we present work in progress about an interference-aware dynamic channel allocation algorithm, which attempts to allocate channels to users in such a way so that the average blocking probability and forced termination in the entire system is minimized. As opposed to Fixed Channel Allocation (FCA), in Dynamic Channel Allocation (DCA) there is no fixed relationship between channel and cells. All channels are kept in a central pool and are assigned dynamically to radio cells as new calls arrive in the system. In DCA, a channel is eligible for use in any cell provided that signal interference constraints are satisfied. Since, in general, more than one channel might be available in the central pool to be assigned to a cell that requires a channel, some strategy must be applied to select the assigned channel. In contrast to traditional call-by-call DCA schemes, where the channel assignment is based only on current channel usage conditions in the service area, in this work we considered an interferenceaware DCA algorithm, in which the channel assignment is adaptively carried out using context information on the previous as well as the present channel. This scheme tries to assign, whenever possible, the same channels assigned before to the existing calls, this limiting the reassignment of channels.

I.

INTRODUCTION

With the scarce availability of wireless spectrum in commercial networks, and the increase in number of users and their corresponding traffic volume, one of the most important challenges for wireless system engineers is to have high spectrum efficiency in order to accommodate as many users as possible in a limited frequency spectrum range. As the high bandwidth wireless data applications are widely adopted, cellular networks will continue to evolve to higher access speeds and therefore, will require larger amount of spectrum. Understanding and characterizing the interference in a wireless network is important for a variety of purposes such as channel assignment, route selection, and fair scheduling. Given the limitations of the natural frequency spectrum, it becomes obvious that the current static frequency allocation schemes cannot accommodate the requirements of an increasing number of higher data rate devices. As a result, innovative techniques that can offer new ways of exploiting the available spectrum are needed. This leads to an undesirable situation that some systems may only use the allocated spectrum to a very limited extent while others have very serious spectrum insufficiency situation. Dynamic Spectrum Allocation (DSA) is believed to be highly potential technology to address these issues [1], [17]. With these DSA schemes,

Channel reassignment is the process of transferring an ongoing call to a new channel without call interruption, and can lead to a lower call blocking probability and so a higher number of calls serviced. Reassignment in the entire cellular network upon the arrival of a new call will result in lower call blocking probability, but it is complex, both in terms of time and computation. Therefore, the reassignment process is limited to the cell involved in new call arrival. Simulation environments more than ever offer the opportunity to develop and study with low cost new structures and methods for the implementation of new services. The simulation system proposed is designed with the goal to be efficient in simulating large-scale generic cellular telecommunication systems. Moreover, another goal of our proposal is to serve as a test bed for the evaluation and development of DCA schemes (especially for educational purposes) involved in such cellular systems towards their planning as effective cellular mobile radio networks. The rest of this paper is organized as follows. Section 2 presents some fundamentals and related work about Fixed Channel Allocation (FCA), and Dynamic Channel Allocation (DCA). In section 3, we introduce the general formulation of the System Model considered for simulation. Simulation setup and a discussion of the results are presented in Section 4. Conclusions derived from this work and future work are presented in Section 5. II. RELATED WORK

the traffic or interference adaptability, since channel assignment is based on the current network context information. DCA methods have better performance than fixed channel assignment methods for light to medium traffic load [6]. Most of the proposed DCA algorithms are heuristic based and do not guarantee an optimal solution. In addition, many existing DCA schemes consider a simplified problem with only co-channel constraints. Recently, DCA schemes for multi-hop wireless communications [12], [13] have also been proposed. Another scheme, the Hybrid channel-assignment (HCA) [14], [15] combines the features of both FCA and DCA techniques to overcome the drawbacks of FCA and DCA. In HCA, the set of channels is divided into two subsets [16], the Fixed Channels set (or FC set: a set of channels permanently allocated to given cells) and the Dynamic Channels set (or DC set: a set of channels available to all cells). When a new call arrives in a cell, the system first tries to serve it from the FC set. If no channel is available in the FC set, then the DCA scheme determines a suitable channel from the DC set, satisfying the interference constraints and the traffic demands in cells. Nowadays, various works utilize channel assignment algorithms in a Multi-channel multi-radio architectures studied for 802.11-based wireless mesh networks to address the capacity problem due to wireless interference; however they assume all channels and radio interfaces to be homogeneous [8]. In practice, different channels exhibit different link qualities depending on the propagation environment for the same link. III. SYSTEM MODEL

The capacity of a cellular system can be described in terms of the number of available channels, or the number of users the system can support. The total number of channels made available to a system depends on the allocated spectrum and the bandwidth of each channel. The available frequency spectrum is limited and the number of mobile users is increasing day by day, hence the channels must be reused as much as possible to increase the system capacity. The role of a channel assignment scheme is to allocate channels to cells or mobiles terminals in such a way as to minimize: a) the probability that the incoming calls are blocked, b) the probability that ongoing calls are dropped, and c) the probability that the carrier-to- interference ratio of any call falls below a pre-defined value. Various channel assignment schemes have been proposed to find better ways to assign channels to a call and to achieve higher level of channel reuse, which can be broadly classified as FCA and DCA schemes. The FCA schemes [6], [7], [8] allocate channels permanently to each cell based on predetermined estimated traffic. The FCA schemes are simple but it do not adapt to changes in traffic conditions. In a cell, a channel is assigned to a call using FCA, only if there are free channels available in the predetermined set for this cell. Otherwise, the call might be rejected even though there are many channels available in the network. In DCA schemes [9],[10],[11] the channels are assigned on a call-by-call basis in a dynamic way and the entire set of channels is accessible to all the cells. DCA makes wireless networks more efficient, especially if the traffic load distribution is not known beforehand or varies with time. The advantage of dynamic channel assignment is the flexibility and

Interference is a fundamental nature of wireless communication systems, in which multiple transmissions often take place simultaneously over a common communication medium. In recent years, there has been a rapidly growing interest in developing reliable and spectral efficient wireless communication systems. One primary challenge in such a development is how to deal with the interference, which may substantially limit the reliability and the throughput of a wireless communication system. Recently, the paradigm has shifted to focus on how to intelligently exploit the knowledge and/or the structure of interference to achieve improved reliability and throughput of wireless communication systems The cellular principle divides a geographical area into cells where each cell has a base station and a number of mobile terminals. The base station is responsible for the communication between a mobile terminal and the rest of the network. In order to begin communication with a base station, a mobile terminal must obtain a channel from the base station. The channel assignment problem deals with assigning an appropriate channel for each user that request a voice or data call. In this paper we present a DCA algorithm that allocates channels based on the interference level experimented at the receiver. The proposed algorithm has the main feature of reallocate a channel to an ongoing call if the quality of the communication channel decreases below certain level; this is made without disconnecting the call.

Two metrics are used to evaluate system performance: Blocking probability and Forced Termination probability. The blocking probability is defined as statistical probability of losing a call due either to the lack of available channels or that available channels are experimenting too much interference. The forced termination probability is statistical probability of a call is forced to terminate prematurely. This may be due to a poor link quality. We take into account not only one sample cell, but also neighboring cells, because co-channel interference from neighboring cells has a significant effect on the performance of the sample cell. The cellular network considered here is a collection of K spatially separated base stations, and a collection of users who make calls of limited duration. The system has been assigned with a portion of the radio spectrum, which is divided into a finite number of channels, n. All the n channels are available to all system cells, provided they can maintain a reliable communication link. Nevertheless, more than one user could not use a channel at the same time within the same cell. A channel is suitable to use on a communication link provided that interference experimented by receivers remains below the limit imposed to ensure certain quality of service. During a call, a user communicates with the nearest base station by means of one of n channels. The principle behind cellular networks is that multiple users can use each of the n channels simultaneously across the network, if and only if the so-called reuse constraints are satisfied. These constraints ensure that the performance in any given cell is not excessively degraded by the interference caused by other cells using the same channel. Calls can arrive at the cell in one of two ways. They may be new calls or they may be existing calls being handed off from neighboring cells due to user mobility. The model used in this article does not include user mobility. Using dynamic channel assignment, calls arriving to a cell are assigned one of the available channels. In practice, the call will generally use the same channel until it departs from the cell. Thus, in general, the state of the system depends on both the number of calls in each cell (the occupancy), and also on which particular channels they use. Calls stay connected for a random length of time called the holding time, assumed to be independent of the rest of the process history. The holding time is a random variable exponentially distributed with mean 1/. The strength of the received signal, regardless of the desired wave, or interference wave, is one of the most important issues in our simulation. The transmitted signal suffers from attenuation caused by such factors as distance and obstruction. In the simulation, we introduce path loss and shadowing as such attenuation factors. We assume the transmitted signal is subject to path loss with a decay factor of =3.5. We figure out the path loss between two points, a and b, due we know the (x, y) coordinates of the users position and the base station. User distribution is considered to be uniform over one cell as well as over the entire cell layout. Each user is scattered in certain point of 1000 or 10000 points in a cell with equal probability at its call initiation. The shadowing is assumed to be subject to log-normal distribution with a standard deviation of =6.5 dB.

The ratio between the power of the carrier signal and the power of all interfering users plus noise (CNIR) is a measurement used to determine the interference levels experimented in some point of communication link. The CNIR is calculated according the following expression:

CNIR =

Pt d 10 10 N 0 + Pi d 10
i i =1 k

0 0
10

(1)

Where Pt is transmitter power, dt is the distance between transmitter and receiver, is an attenuation factor, the term 10^(0/10) denotes the loss due to log-normal shadowing, N0 corresponds to noise power. The sum term represents the total interference due to the k users using the same channel, transmitting with a power Pi at a distance di from receiver. As is previously mentioned, the algorithm proposed allocates and re-allocates channels based on a measurement of interference levels. In this algorithm, CNIR measurement is used in order to make decisions on whether a channel can be assigned to a call or not. The allocation and re-allocation of channels to users is made according the following strategies: A. Channel allocation to new calls Once a user requests for service, the BS must assign a channel to the call in order to start communication. To allocate a channel c to an incoming call, uplink power strength from a call-initiating user is examined. This power is provided by the Carrier to Noise ratio (C/N). After calculating C/N, we search for an available channel that is not in use, and that satisfies the interference conditions of the Carrier and Interference plus Noise (CNIR) and compares it with a threshold . The channel search is conducted in the loop of the number of channel, so that the provided number of channels is examined in its entirety. If in another cell a user is allocated the same channel, we calculate the interference from that user. The channel c will be allocated to the new call provided the CNIR > . Since all the channels satisfying CNIR > are able to be assigned, our algorithm chooses the first channel that satisfies such a condition. On the other hand, either if all channels are currently being used within the cell or the available channels do not comply CNIR constraint, then the request is rejected and the call is blocked. B. Channel re-alocation to ongoing calls When a user starts a call, it remains connected for some time. During this period, several events may occur affecting the communication between transmitter and receiver. Some of these events are: mobility of the transmitter, the emergence of other transmitters within the network, even the emergence of transmitters coming from other networks. All these events may degrade the quality of the communication channel. In order to retrieve this setback, a channel re-allocation strategy is proposed. In this strategy, every user connected within every cell is evaluated. To explain before mentioned, we suppose user k has a call in progress on channel c within cell i. The BS attached to cell i

measures every seconds the power from all transmitting users from neighbor cells using channel c. The BS computes the CNIR and verifies that CNIR > . If the channel c assigned to user k does not fulfill the CNIR constraint, the call is set on hold. Since the communication should not be interrupted, the BS looks for another available channel. If the BS finds another channel that complies with CNIR > , the call is assigned with the new channel and the communication link is not affected. However, either if the BS does not find an available channel or the available channels do not fulfill the CNIR threshold, the call is terminated. This premature termination of a call is named forced termination. IV. SIMULATION SETUP AND RESULTS

having started a call, and the number of generated calls is counted as a variable new calls generated. On the other hand, every initiated call has its own call holding time, and the initiated call is terminated after such a time. The holding time of each call is subject to exponential distribution with a mean value of 1/ seconds. The number of users is also a significant traffic parameter. We set up the number of users existing in a cell and investigate the effects of such fluctuations of the user numbers.

The objective of the simulation-based evaluation is to understand the behavior of our DCA algorithm and protocol in large-scale networks. We vary the traffic patterns and the amount of external interference in two different network scenarios. In our evaluations, we compare DCA against a static channel assignment. In order to evaluate the performance of our algorithm, we simulate a cellular system with dynamic channel allocation using MATLAB. We considered a cellular system consisting of 19 hexagonal cells with unitary radius. The distribution of the users in every cell is uniform. Two traffic scenarios are considered. In the first scenario, the system has only voice users. In the second scenario, the system has voice and data users. The probability of having a data call is 40%, meanwhile, the probability for voice calls is 60%. Every call request is subject to a Poisson process, with mean arrival rate = 6. The holding time is a random variable exponentially distributed with mean 1/ = 120 s for voice calls, and 1/ = 600 s for data calls. To allocate and re-allocate channels the algorithm considers a CNIR threshold = 7 dB for the voice-only scenario and a threshold = 12 dB for the voice and data scenario. The number of available channels in each cell varies from 5-50. In every time period, each user causes several events, such as call initiation, channel searching, channel allocation, channel reallocation and call termination. In a time period, the following events are considered in turn. 1) Calls of connected users are terminated if they finish in this period. 2) Calls of still-connected users are examined. If a desirable interference condition is not satisfied, reallocation is attempted by searching for new channels. 3) With a preliminary probability, users that are not connected start new calls and search for channels that satisfy the interference conditions. Each call generation is subject to the Poisson process with its mean arrival rate for each user of (calls/hour). To realize such an arrival rate, we examine each user that is not connected in every time period using a random function. If a value of random number is not more that , which represents an average arrival rate during a time step, then the user is regarded as

Figure 1. Blocking probability, 1000 users per cell .

Figure 2. Forced termination probability, 1000 users per cell.

The blocking probability is quantified by the blocked calls to generated calls ratio. The forced termination probability is figured out by the calls terminated prematurely to successfully connected calls ratio (generated calls minus blocked calls). Simulation results for blocking probability are shown in figures 1 and 3, considering 1,000 and 10,000 users per cell respectively. It can be observe that blocking probability

decreases as the number of available channel increases. This is due to the fact that the more channels available have a cell; the less calls are blocked due to the lack of channels. The same behavior is observed at all scenarios, when dynamic channel allocation or fixed channel allocation is used and with voiceonly traffic or voice and data traffic.

probability allows having a greater number of successfully terminated calls. Taking these proportions into account we can deduce that the algorithm presented in this work makes more efficient use of the channels available for the system. On the other hand, when a heavier traffic pattern is considered, the algorithm proposed does not improve system performance in relation to when a fixed channel allocation is used. There is no significant difference in blocking probability for 10,000 voice-only users when dynamic channel allocation or fixed channel allocation is used. Forced termination probability decreases by 57.5% for the same case when dynamic channel allocation is used. Forced termination probability decreases by 45.2% with dynamic channel allocation. From these results, we conclude that dynamic channel allocation algorithms perform better in case of light to medium traffic. Meanwhile, fixed channel allocation performs better in case of heavy traffic. In figure 5 we show the successfully calls per cell.
25 Dynamic allocation (voice-only) Fixed allocation (voice-only) Dynamic allocation (voice and data) Fixed allocation (voice and data)

20 Successfuly Terminated calls (%)

Figure 3. Blocking probability, 10,000 users per cell.

15

10

10

15

20

25 30 Channels per cell

35

40

45

50

Figure 5. Successfully Terminated calls per cell.

V.

CONCLUSIONS AND FUTURE WORK

Figure 4. Forced termination probability, 10,000 users per cell.

In Figure 1, it can be observed that blocking probability is 22% greater when it is considered the dynamic channel algorithm with respect to static channel assignment algorithm. However, the forced termination probability decreases by 61% for the same case. Considering voice and data calls, the blocking probability is 21.5% greater and the forced termination probability decreases by 52.7% when the dynamic channel allocation algorithm is applied. Although the algorithm does not improve the blocking probability, it decreases the number of prematurely terminated calls, and thus, the forced termination probability. The decrease on forced termination

Spectrum is a very valuable resource in wireless communication systems, and it has been a focal point for research and development efforts over the last several decades. Spectral efficiency is playing an increasingly important role as future wireless communication systems will accommodate more and more users and high performance (e.g., broadband) services. From the discussions provided it is clear that spectrum-aware communication will play a key role in emerging wireless and mobile communication systems. Estimation of spectrum usage in multiple dimensions including time, frequency, space, angle, and code; identifying opportunities in these dimensions; and developing algorithms for prediction into the future using past information can be considered as some of the open research areas. In this work, we presented work in progress on the evaluation of a cellular wireless network using an interference-aware dynamic channel

allocation scheme. We can conclude that DCA strategies are in less efficient than FCA under high load conditions. With cell sizes diminishing in the next generation of cellular systems (i.e. 4G cellular systems), micro- and pico-cells likely to be dominate. It would then be more efficient for the base stations to allocate channels oblivious of the neighboring base stations. For that reason it is necessary analyzing and developing new schemes of Distributed Dynamic Channel Allocation schemes. These schemes are more attractive for implementation in the microcellular systems due to the simplicity of the assignment algorithm in each base station. In the next stage of our work, we will evaluate some distributed DCA schemes such as, Dynamic Channel Selection and Minimum interference algorithms with efficient channel reservation for handoff calls. With this scheme it is possible reserve some channels for handoff calls. The algorithm could reserve channels dynamically based on the traffic and capacity. Our statement is that consider both variables the channel assignment algorithm performs better than a similar channel assignment algorithm which is distributed and based only on interference. Quality of Service (QoS) may be improved further by reserving the channels for handoff calls based on the user mobility and type of cell. The reservation factor, which varies the number of reserved channels, it could be based on both the blocking probability and the dropping probability REFERENCES
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