Effective capacity channel model for frequency-selective fading channels

To efficiently support quality of service (QoS) in future wireless networks, it is important to model a wireless channel in terms of connection-level QoS metrics such as data rate, delay and delay-violation probability. To achieve this, in [7], we proposed and developed a link-layer channel model termed effective capacity (EC) for flat fading channels. In this paper, we apply the effective capacity technique to modeling frequency selective fading channels. Specifically, we utilize the duality between the distribution of a queue with superposition of N i.i.d. sources, and the distribution of a queue with a frequency-selective fading channel that consists of N i.i.d. sub-channels, to model a frequency selective fading channel. In the proposed model, a frequency selective fading channel is modeled by three EC functions; we also propose a simple and efficient algorithm to estimate these EC functions. Simulation results show that the actual QoS metric is closely approximated by the QoS metric predicted by the proposed EC channel model. The accuracy of the prediction using our model can translate into efficiency in admission control and resource reservation.