Equal resource sharing allocation with QoS differentiation for conversational services in wireless communication networks

Flexible resource allocation (FRA) strategies are used in cellular systems to dynamically adjust the quality of service (QoS) of active calls according to the prevailing traffic conditions. This is done by assigning a variable number of resources to active calls. When the offered load is high, a small number of resources is assigned to offer high capacity while providing a QoS lower than the maximum requested. When the offered load is low, the opposite occurs. A new flexible resource allocation strategy called equal resource sharing allocation with differentiated QoS (ERSAQoS) is presented. This strategy is suitable for operation in environments with integrated conversational services (i.e. voice, video, videophone) each with different QoS and priorities. ERSAQoS consists of a two-phase allocation process. Resources are first distributed among different active calls with the same service type, respecting priorities, and then equally distributed among active calls with the same service type. The proposed strategy allows fine or soft control of differentiated QoS provisioning. Results show that ERSAQoS meets the upper capacity bound for FRA strategies while improving the QoS of the prioritised types of service.