Research on resource allocation mechanism for MBMS in wireless cellular system

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to introduce a resource allocation mechanism for Multimedia Broadcast/Multicast Service (MBMS) in a wireless cellular system and to obtain a rapid and efficient transmission scheme over various types' services. The proposed algorithm is evaluated by simulation results. Design/methodology/approach A big problem for wireless communication is the limited time/frequency resources. Therefore, the most important issue is how to utilize these limited resources to transmit various services over a wireless broadband network, especially for MBMS services. In this paper, resource allocation mechanism in a full unicast system is first analyzed with three classical methods, then improved modulation and coding schemes (MCS) methods are proposed in a full multicast system to improve system throughput and spectral efficiency. Based on the foregoing discussions, research on resource allocation mechanism for mixed multicast and unicast traffic is developed in single‐cell and multi‐cell system (MBSFN, MBMS over single frequency network), respectively. Different transmission proportions between multicast and unicast are analyzed and a multiplexing scenario is also considered. Findings Resource allocation is a hot topic in wireless communication and there are many investigations on it. However, resource allocation for multicast system, especially for mixed multicast and unicast traffic system, is still a problem worthy of further study. Under same transmission condition in a single cell scenario, system throughput in multicast mode is worse than in unicast mode, which is partly because the number of valid date in multicast resource block (RB) is less than the one in unicast in 3GPP LTE/LTE‐A, on the other hand, because that multicast need to select a relative low MCS to satisfy most MBMS users, even the users with a very poor transmission condition. Fortunately, multicast in MBSFN (MBMS over single frequency network) transfer mode can largely improve system performance. Originality/value Improved MCS selection schemes are proposed for full multicast transmission and three transmission scenarios for mixed multicast and unicast traffic are presented to discuss resource allocation mechanism over various types' services. Simulation results show that system performance of multicast system can be greatly enhanced in MBSFN transmission mode, especially with MIMO technology.