A group based point-to-multipoint MBMS algorithm over the HSDPA network

Multimedia broadcast and multicast service (MBMS) specification was introduced in the release 6 of the 3GPP standard to deliver multimedia content to a large group of users in the UMTS network. With the MBMS system generally the same content is transmitted to multiple users in a unidirectional fashion, typically by multiple base stations to improve the coverage over a large geographical area. From the radio network point of view the standard supports the point-to-point (p-t-p) and the point-to-multipoint (p-t-m) transmission modes. In this paper we propose a group based p-t-m MBMS algorithm utilising the scalable video coding techniques to improve overall QoS of multimedia services. The group based MBMS algorithm has been proposed to support moderate to high date rate multicasting services over the HSDPA link. The proposed algorithm has been simulated using an OPNET simulation model. Initial results show that the proposed algorithm could offer higher data and improved QoS for MBMS users.