Weighted sub-channel allocation scheme for multicast service in future wireless network

Abstract

Since wireless access technology and end user device, such as mobile, laptops, has been developed, user behavior is not restricted to using voice service by wireless device. As user who requests various multimedia broadcasting and streaming such as IPTV increase, it is important to allocate resource efficiently [1]. Multicast service has been increasing in wireless network as it is used as an efficient method for delivering same content to multiple mobile nodes. In other words, multicast transmission reduces the resource consumption for delivering the same contents to user who interested in certain channel [2]. But, the existing sub-channel allocation scheme of the wireless network is not designed to accommodate multicast. In addition, since wireless network has a constraint on bandwidth allocation, the efficient resource management schemes are needed especially for multicast service. Therefore, the overall channel efficiency should be optimized to support multicast services as well as unicast services. The major wireless multicast technologies used in various 3G/4G deployment models are Multicast Broadcast Service (MBS) [3] by WiMAX-The Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access, Multimedia Broadcast Multicast Service (MBMS) [4] by 3GPP, and Broadcast and Multicast Services (BCMCS) [5] by 3GPP2. These technologies commonly use Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) technology with Adaptive Modulation Coding (AMC) in order to provide high bit rate and efficiently utilize the downlink bandwidth. By independently managing the each user, AMC can provide high bandwidth efficiency in unicast transmission. In recent wireless system based on OFDMA (eg. WiMAX, LTE, HSPA), AMC can achieve high spectral efficiency by selecting the highest modulation and coding rate with a given acceptable Bit Error Rate (BER). However, since AMC is designed to point to point communication, it is not suitable for point to multipoint communication. So, the existing sub-ch...