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Optimal joint utility based load balancing algorithm for heterogeneous wireless networks

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Abstract

The rapid development of mobile broadband services with continuously increasing traffic volumes has resulted in a number of challenges, including ubiquitous network coverage, high bandwidth, and reliable services for reasonable price, etc. To address these challenges, evolved packet system (EPS) is proposed as the evolution of the packet core network. While resource management and load balancing issues in EPS are discussed in 3GPP standardization, relatively few research works consider mechanism design for load information monitoring and evaluation. Furthermore, even though some load balancing algorithms have been proposed for integrated networks, the load balancing scheme design which achieves the optimization of joint system performance has not been extensively studied. In this paper, an inter-access system anchor based load balancing mechanism is introduced which performs load monitoring and evaluation for access gateways and networks, and an optimal load balancing algorithm is proposed for heterogeneous integrated networks. To characterize the performance of integrated networks, the concept of utility function is introduced and the comprehensive performance of integrated networks which support both single type service and multimedia service is modeled mathematically. Applying vertical handoff as an efficient mechanism for achieving load balancing, the optimal number of handoff users is obtained through solving the optimization problem. Numerical results demonstrate that load balancing between access networks can be achieved, and the optimal number of handoff users corresponding to the maximal joint network utility can be obtained.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China (61102063, 61171111), National Science and Technology Specific Project of China (2011ZX03005-004-02), the special fund of Chongqing key laboratory (CSTC) and the project of Chongqing Municipal Education Commission (Kjzh11206).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Lab of Mobile Communication Technology, Chongqing University of Posts and Telecommunications, Chongqing, China

    Rong Chai, Huili Zhang, Xiaoyu Dong & Qianbin Chen

  2. Department of Signals and Systems, Chalmers University of Technology, Göteborg, Sweden

    Tommy Svensson

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  1. Rong Chai
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  2. Huili Zhang
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  3. Xiaoyu Dong
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  4. Qianbin Chen
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  5. Tommy Svensson
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Correspondence to Huili Zhang.

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Chai, R., Zhang, H., Dong, X. et al. Optimal joint utility based load balancing algorithm for heterogeneous wireless networks. Wireless Netw 20, 1557–1571 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11276-014-0695-0

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