Uplink QoS-aware admission control in WCDMA networks with class-based power sharing

Efficient call admission control (CAC) techniques are of paramount importance in UMTS networks to satisfy the quality of service (QoS) requirements of different traffic classes and to utilize the system resources in an efficient manner. In this paper, we propose a novel uplink CAC framework to enhance existing UMTS networks on three related accounts. First, we introduce a measurement-based component to calculate the current load of the system; second, this measurement-based component is integrated with a power prediction module to estimate the load increment that the new call will bring into the system; and third, the proposed framework feeds the results obtained to a call admission control algorithm with a QoS-enforcing mechanism that gives each class of traffic different treatment based on the QoS requirement of the connections. To the best of our knowledge, ours is a first attempt towards combining the above components into one uplink CAC framework that aims to enhance system performance and to achieve per-class QoS objectives. Simulation results show that the framework is able to reduce dropping ratio for active users to zero level. Thus, it satisfies mobile users´ needs resulting in stable performance levels during heavy load periods. Furthermore, the framework provides a low blocking ratio for new calls, which translates into high resource utilization. This is a highly desirable property from the service provider point of view.