Virtual partitioning resource allocation for multiclass traffic in cellular systems with QoS constraints

Resource allocation is a vital component of call-admission control that determines the amount of resource to assign to new and handoff connections for quality-of-service (QoS) satisfaction. In this paper, we present approximate analytical formulations of virtual partitioning resource-allocation schemes for handling multiclass services with guard channels in a cellular system. Resource-allocation models for best effort and guarantee access with preemption for best effort traffic and virtual partition with preemption for all classes are investigated. The analytical models, derived using a K-dimensional Markov chain, are solved using preemption rules for these schemes. Call-level grade of service, such as new-call-blocking probability, handoff-call-blocking probability, and system utilization, and packet-level QoS, such as packet-loss probability, are used as performance metrics. The performances of fast and slow mobile users are evaluated analytically and by simulation. The analytical and simulation results show excellent agreement. A method to maximize system utilization through joint optimization of call-/packet-level parameters is proposed. Numerical results indicate that significant gain in system utilization is achieved.