Optimal Resource Sharing for Integration of Unicast and Multicast Data on TDM Radio Channels

Future integration of multicast and unicast data on time-slotted radio channels will require efficient resource sharing mechanisms. These mechanisms need to be optimized to provide the best possible performance for the users. In this paper, we consider the case where members of a video streaming multicast group share the common resources with unicast users on a HSDPA-like TDM channel. We define performance metrics and derive a system model to study the user performance for various resource allocations under fairness constraints. Our results show that the performance gains of resource-optimal multicast could be substantial and should be exploited in practical scheduling schemes.