Opportunistic scheduling for streaming multimedia users in high-speed downlink packet access (HSDPA)

High speed downlink packet access (HSDPA) is specified in the 3GPP to cope with the increasing demand of high-speed Internet-based multimedia services. HSDPA is based on techniques such as base station scheduling, adaptive modulation and coding, hybrid automatic repeat request, and advanced receiver design. This work presents system-level simulation results on the HSDPA performance to reveal the effects of user equipment (UE) capabilities such as the maximum number of multicodes and receive diversity. The results show that a 15- and 10-multi-code UE and the receive diversity significantly improve the cell capacity. Experiments using the HSDPA test-beds are conducted to investigate the true HSDPA performance. Furthermore, TCP/IP-level simulation results show the application-level throughput, i.e. end-user throughput, in the HSDPA system. The results indicate that reduction of the round trip time, a higher uplink data rate, and low uplink block error rate are required to achieve the high TCP-level throughput.

In recent years, the growth of smart phone industry drives its users to demand better quality multimedia services while achieving faster internet speeds. With a higher number of subscribers and more data hungry applications, there is a need to improve the current 3G HSDPA data rate until the 4G network is fully implemented globally. Therefore, the aim of this thesis is to improve the downlink data rate of the HSDPA system throughput through both transmitter and receiver optimisations while balancing the complexities of the optimisation algorithms. Initially, improving system throughput through power allocation strategies is investigated in this thesis. Current schemes proposed in the literature that use Equal SINR Equal Rate (ESER) allocation can improve the system throughput for single rate allocation but require a rather high complexity. In this thesis, a System Value (SV) criterion is proposed to decrease the traditional ESER allocation method while achieving similar system throughput performance. To further increase the system throughput, a Successive Interference Cancellation (SIC) receiver is proposed which not only improves the data rate but also has a reduced complexity. The proposed SIC receiver can be used in conjunction with both ESER allocation schemes as well as equal energy allocation schemes. Another transmitter optimisation strategy is to improve the signature sequences. A signature sequence design that minimises correlations between the sequences while reducing the Inter-Symbol Interference (ISI) and noise is proposed. To reduce the amount of channel state information required, a signature sequence selection method which removes the signature sequences that are heavily a ected by interference is also proposed. The proposed optimisation strategies have been veri ed through MATLAB simulations. Moreover, practical measurements using the National Instruments (NI)-PXIe testbed have been carried out for the proposed SIC algorithm which further con rm its e ectiveness in a real world environment.

Fast packet scheduling is a key feature of packet-based data services which are 3G/4G wireless networks such as Enhanced Data rates for GSM Evolution, High-Speed Downlink Packet Access (HSDPA), and High Data Rate. In this paper, we propose Anticipated Proportionally Optimal (APO), a new packet scheduling scheme with Quality of Service (QoS) support for hybrid of real and non-real-time services over HSDPA networks. The APO scheduling algorithm is based on the effective channel anticipation model. In contrast to the traditional schemes, the proposed method is implemented based on a cyclic non-work-conserving discipline. Simulation results indicate capability of proposed scheme to maximize the channel usage efficiency compared to other exist scheduling methods. Results also present fair tradeoff between channel capacity and desired QoS for real-time services.

This article investigates the efficient transmission of file download services to several users simultaneously in 3G mobile networks with HSDPA (High-Speed Downlink Packet Access) and MBMS (Multimedia Broadcast Multicast Services). HSDPA supports high speed point-to-point (p-t-p) transmissions (up to several Mb/s), whereas with MBMS the same content can be transmitted with a point-to-multipoint (p-t-m) connection to multiple users in a unidirectional fashion. Multicast delivery can be implemented through only p-t-p transmissions with HSDPA, a single p-t-m transmission with MBMS, or using both jointly in a hybrid approach by employing HSDPA for error repair of the MBMS p-t-m transmission. We investigate the optimum HSDPA and MBMS transmission configuration when they are used separately, and the trade-off between the initial MBMS file p-t-m transmission and the HSDPA error repair for the hybrid delivery. The approach of minimizing the transmission energy (product of the transmit power times the transmission time) to achieve a target file acquisition probability (percentage of users that successfully receive the file) has been adopted.

We consider modeling the statistical behavior of interactive and streaming traffics in high-speed downlink packet access (HSDPA) networks. Two important applications in these traffic categories are web-browsing (interactive service) and video streaming (streaming service). Web-browsing is characterized by its important sensitivity to delay. Video streaming on the other hand is less sensitive to delay, however, due to its large frame sizes, video traffic is more affected by the packet loss resulting from a limited buffer size at the base station. Taking these characteristics into account, we consider modeling the queuing delay probability density function (PDF) of the Web-browsing traffic, and modeling the queuing buffer size distribution of video streaming traffic. Specifically, we show that the queuing delay of the Web-browsing traffic follows an exponential distribution and that the queuing buffer size of video streaming traffic follows a weighted Weibull distribution. Model fitting based on simulated data is used to provide simple mathematical formulations for the different parameters that characterize the PDFs under consideration. The provided equations could be used, directly, in HSDPA network dimensioning and, as a reference, to satisfy a certain quality of service (QoS).

The provision of data services in 3G systems requires spectral efficiency solutions to increase the capacity of the radio access network as well as support for high data rates. In this context, the 3GPP introduces a new feature in the release 5 specifications denominated high speed downlink packet access (HSDPA). The HSDPA concept appears as an umbrella of features to improve both user and system performance. The concept includes a reduction of the transmission time interval (TTI) to 2 ms, an adaptive modulation and coding (AMC) scheme, and a fast physical layer hybrid ARQ mechanism. In this paper the objective is to analyze the HSDPA performance for streaming, interactive, and background services. Relevant characteristics such as the QoS demands of the different traffic classes, the throughput and delay characteristics has been analyzed and compared with shared channel. We also propose a new packet-scheduling scheme for HSDPA transmission, which improves the overall performance and fairness among the packet users.

To support very high data rate services that require higher system capacity, the high speed downlink packet access (HSDPA) was proposed in the UMTS standard. One of key techniques supporting the HSDPA services is the adaptive modulation and coding (AMC) in which the modulation scheme and the coding rate are adaptively changed to match the current channel condition reported by the user equipment (UE). Therefore, the mapping between the channel quality indicator (CQI) and signal to interference ratio (SIR) is closely related to the accuracy of AMC and the performance of HSDPA. This paper proposes a novel SIR to CQI mapping method that satisfies the 3GPP requirements. In order to verify the performance of the proposed mapping method, we implemented the link-level simulator which is composed of all the physical layer blocks depicted in the 3GPP standard. With the proposed mapping method, we show that UE can report the exact channel condition and the system can yield performance exceeding the requirements in the 3GPP technical specification.

Only best-effort traffic was supported by traditional packet switching networks, but newer applications need network services that allow an end-client to transport data with performance guarantees. The choice of packet-scheduling algorithm used at switching nodes is crucial in providing Quality of Service (QoS). This paper proposes a downlink packet scheduling algorithm for QoS provisioning in High Speed Downlink Packet Access (HSDPA) based UMTS networks. In HSDPA, a single logical channel is shared amongst multiple contending users. Besides better link utilization, scheduling disciplines seek to achieve fair allocation of this shared resource. However, these two criteria can potentially be in conflict. The scheduling algorithm proposed in this paper, Wireless Fair High Speed Scheduling, addresses this conflict. The basic idea is to allocate the wireless channel fairly amongst users, even during short time scales, according to their data rate requirements. Simulation results show that the proposed scheduling algorithm provides better link utilization, as well as long-term and short-term fairness amongst users, even under heavy load conditions.

In this paper, we describe the novel concept of broadcast and multicast (BCMC) transmission over high speed downlink packet access (HSDPA), a shared high-speed packet data channel on the downlink defined in the Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) standard. We show that the unique features of HSDPA such as link adaptation, channel-sensitive scheduling, and hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) can be used to provide performance gains over conventional multimedia broadcast multicast service (MBMS) transmission on the forward access channel (FACH) channel. We address various aspects of system design and performance in the design of a BCMC system over HSDPA, and present a detailed performance analysis using system level simulations. Some of the main objectives of our BCMC design are to enable broadcast and multicast services on HSDPA networks without requiring significant changes to the HSDPA standard in 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP), and to ensure that the solution is backward-compatible with Release 5 HSDPA mobile devices.

This paper outlines the time jitter effect of a sampling clock on a Software Defined Radio (SDR) technology- based-Digital Intermediate Frequency (IF) transceiver for a mobile communication base station. The implemented Digital IF transceiver is reconfigurable to three bandwidth profiles : 1.75 MHz, 3.5 MHz, and 7 MHz each incorporating the IEEE 802.16d Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMAX) standard and High-Speed Downlink Packet Access (HSDPA) standard. This transceiver can be reconfigured to other standard profiles through software downloaded onto identical hardware platforms, without changing any components or parts on board. This paper examines the relationship between the Signal-to- Noise Ratio (SNR) characteristics of a Digital IF transceiver with an under-sampling scheme and the sampling jitter effect on a multi-channel OFDM signal and a multi-code CDMA signal. The experimental results show that the SNR of the multi-channel OFDM system is more susceptible to sampling clock jitter compared to a multi-code HSDPA system.

High-speed downlink packet access (HSDPA) is an interface of UMTS systems for data communication. It combines 16-QAM modulation with low spreading factors to achieve high data rates. Generalized RAKE (G-RAKE) receiver is an advanced receiver, which can be employed in HSDPA to obtain reliable communication. In this work, we investigate iterative methods, which reduce overall complexity requirements of the G-RAKE receiver, without sacrificing its performance. The names of the methods are The Gauss-Seidel (GS), Successive Over-Relaxation (SOR), Conjugate Gradient (CG), and Preconditioned Conjugate Gradient (PCG). Our simulation results show that the PCG method provides the best trade-off between the complexity and required conditions.

HSDPA (high-speed downlink packet access), introduced in WCDMA release 5, provides a high-bandwidth shared channel with short transmission time interval (TTI). The short TTI together with appropriate scheduling enable HSDPA to support efficient multiplexing of traffic. We explain the performance of four scheduling algorithms when transmitting a traffic mix consisting of both conversational (VoIP) traffic and background (Web) traffic over the high-speed downlink shared channel (HS-DSCH) of HSDPA. We consider both cell throughput and user satisfaction. The proportional fair (PF), the maximum rate (MR) scheduler and two extended versions of MR, are tested for different VoIP scheduling delay budgets and varying load. To understand the behaviour of the schedulers, we use the ns-2 simulator extended with a model of HS-DSCH to simulate a mixed traffic scenario. Our results show that a scheduler that gradually increases the VoIP priority and considers the user's current possible rate, performs well. A more drastic increase in VoIP priority is however needed when the delay budget is short. Furthermore, attempting to uphold quality for both VoIP and Web traffic makes the system sensitive to overload situations.

This paper presents an analytical model of the cell and user throughput of high-speed downlink packet access (HSDPA) that can be used to compare the performance and efficiency of various schedulers. The focus is on the proportional fair (PF), score-based (SB), and Max C/I schedulers. The radio channel is assumed to be a composite multipath/shadowing channel, with the path amplitude following a Nakagami distribution. The effect of the correlation between paths on the HSDPA throughput performance is taken into account in the modeling. The analytical model is confronted with a simulation using the NS2 network simulator and shown to provide reasonably close results to the simulation in view of the modeling assumptions.

In the HSDPA (high-speed downlink packet access) Iub transport network (TN) which connects the radio network controller with base stations (node Bs), congestion control is needed. Because of the TN?s often narrow resources, fairness of resource sharing is an important issue. Basic Additive Increase multiplicative decrease (AIMD) congestion control guarantees convergence to fairness in the long run; all flows converge to an equal share of resources in steady state, where no flows join or leave. However, incoming flows decrease the level of fairness, that is why transient fairness should be taken into account as well. This paper proposes a method which provides fairness-optimal initial rate for incoming HSDPA flows. The proposed method improves average fairness. The method can be applied in a rate based congestion control where flows share the same bottleneck. The paper also gives a general solution for fairness-optimal initial rate in case of second-order fairness measures.

High-speed downlink packet access (HSDPA) is specified in the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) to cope with the increasing demand for high-speed Internet-based multimedia services. This paper presents field experimental results of the user throughput performance in HSDPA to clarify the effects of the maximum number of multi-codes, transmit diversity, and advanced user equipment (UE) such as receive diversity and a chip equalizer. The field experimental results show that 15-multi-code UE, transmit diversity, and receive diversity achieve the peak throughput of 6.5, 8.5, and 10.2 Mbps, respectively, at the average moving speed of 30 km/h in an actual multi-path fading propagation channel, and the average received signal-to-interference power ratio (SIR) is 24 dB. Furthermore, the results show that transmit diversity, receive diversity, and the chip equalizer can improve the average throughput to 27.0%, 54.6%, and 12.8%, respectively, compared to the conventional single antenna Rake receiver when the average received SIR is 16.3 dB