Computer Communications 34 (2011) 10451054

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Computer Communications
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/comcom

Probabilistic framework and performance evaluation for prioritized call admission control in next generation networks
Georgios I. Tsiropoulos *, Dimitrios G. Stratogiannis, John D. Kanellopoulos, Panayotis G. Cottis
Wireless and Satellite Communications Group, Division of Information Transmission Systems and Materials Technology, School of Electrical and Computer Engineering, National Technical University of Athens, 9 Iroon Polytechniou Street, Zografou, GR 15780, Greece

a r t i c l e

i n f o

a b s t r a c t
Next generation networks (NGN) are designed to support a wide range of applications with various service classes (SCs) guaranteeing the respective quality of service (QoS) levels. Since such networks are resource constrained, call admission control (CAC) is imperative to achieve the required QoS levels. In this paper, a new probabilistic framework for CAC schemes is proposed based on controlling each SC independently by admitting low priority SC calls with a variable imposed probability. The incorporation of such a probabilistic framework is considered under a bandwidth-centric approach named probabilistic bandwidth reservation scheme (PBRS). Though equal service times are usually assumed in the literature, the present analysis considers SCs of different service times. By employing Markov chain analysis to treat the independent SCs that correspond to different call specications, analytical expressions for the call blocking probabilities (CBPs) are derived. The performance of the proposed CAC scheme is studied not only with regard to CBP but, also, taking into account the priorities assigned to different SCs as well as fairness among various SCs and total network throughput. The proposed probabilistic framework allows the dynamic control of network resources considering also priority assignment, fairness and throughput. Analytical results concerning delay tolerant (DT) and delay-non-tolerant (DNT) trafc have been obtained applying the proposed scheme. Moreover, the relevant simulations have veried the accuracy of the proposed analysis. 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Article history: Available online 4 February 2010 Keywords: Call admission control Quality of service (QoS) Fairness Multi service class Next generation networks (NGN)

1. Introduction To support various integrated services, such as voice, data, world wide web (WWW) browsing, e-mail and multimedia via mobile computing devices over the wireless infrastructure of next generation networks (NGN), radio resource management (RRM) has evolved as a critical issue [1,2]. One of the main RRM functions is call admission control (CAC) which, following a certain policy, determines whether a new call request should be accepted [3,4]. Thus, due to its critical role with regard to quality of service (QoS), CAC in next generation multi service class (SC) networks is given a great attention. An efcient CAC scheme for present and next generation multi-SC wireless cellular networks, which remains a reliable method of telecommunication infrastructure, should satisfy the following main objectives: (a) establish a mechanism assigning appropriate priorities to different types of trafc load, (b) achieve low call blocking probabilities (CBPs) for all SCs, especially for those of high priority, (c) maximize resource utiliza-

* Corresponding author. Tel.: +30 6973825663. E-mail addresses: gitsirop@mail.ntua.gr, gitsirop@hotmail.com (G.I. Tsiropoulos), dstratog@mail.ntua.gr (D.G. Stratogiannis), ikanell@cc.ece.ntua.gr (J.D. Kanellopoulos), pcottis@central.ntua.gr (P.G. Cottis). 0140-3664/$ - see front matter 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.comcom.2010.01.016

tion with fairness for all SCs, (d) achieve a high network throughput, (e) prevent congestion and (f) meet the specic QoS requirements of each SC [5]. Calls belonging to different SCs may have different bandwidth requirements, call holding times and cell residence times, which results in different QoS levels [68]. Combined with the limited resources of network cells allowing for only a certain number of calls from every SC, this feature leads to the adoption of prioritization models. In class based CAC, assigning priorities to certain SCs is critical in an attempt to minimize the CBP of high priority SCs. Thus, higher priorities are assigned to delay-non-tolerant (DNT) SC calls compared to delay-tolerant (DT) ones. The design and implementation of these schemes seem challenging since some important issues come up. The main problem of CAC schemes basing their admission decision on SC priority is that SC calls of high priority often monopolize network resources. This leads to unacceptably high CBP levels for SC calls of low priority. Thus, fairness in call admission among users of the same SC (under different channel conditions and mobility characteristics) as well as among users of different SCs is an important issue in class based CAC schemes [3,6]. Usually in NGNs, unfairness is a side effect of resource optimization. Furthermore, to provide the required QoS level to high priority SCs, many CAC schemes reserve

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network resources resulting in low average throughput levels. Therefore, apart from the CBP achieved, CAC schemes should also take into account the effectiveness in assigning priority as well as fairness and average throughput. To the authors best knowledge, however, little attention has been given to the implementation of probabilistic models in NGNs. In this paper, a probabilistic CAC framework is proposed aiming at fairly and efciently controlling the admission of different SC calls in NGNs. One of the key points is that the CAC scheme proposed is more general than the existing ones, allowing the extension of the proposed method to multiple SCs, by assigning different call holding times for every SC. The analysis is based on multidimensional Markov chains yielding CBP expressions of closed form. Moreover, the performance of the proposed probabilistic scheme is examined under certain efciency metrics through appropriate numerical results and simulations. The rest of the paper is organized as follows. Related work on prioritizing different SCs along with relevant ideas proposed so far are presented in Section 2. Section 3 introduces the system model and the assumptions for the NGN. In Section 4, the proposed probabilistic CAC scheme under consideration is analyzed and relevant CBP expressions are derived. In Section 5, new metrics for efciency evaluation are introduced. Section 6 presents the simulations to evaluate and validate the performance of the proposed CAC scheme under different load conditions. Conclusions are deduced in Section 7.

col. To minimize CBP, this scheme reserves a pool of bandwidth for the exclusive use of handoff connections. To extend the ordinary CAC schemes for improved QoS provision, the fractional guard schemes have been rst proposed in [19] to give priority to handoff calls in single SC networks. In these schemes the admission criteria of new calls change according to the number of occupied channels. They have been proven optimal in minimizing the CBP of new calls subject to a certain constraint on the handoff CBP of a given number of channels. 2.2. Contribution of the present analysis The main contribution of the present work lies in extending the model of Ramjee [19] and Epstein and Schwartz [20] to multi-SC NGN. To address this problem, the thinning schemes for handoff calls prioritization [21] and for multi-SC wireless networks [22] are extended to assign different priorities to various SC calls. More particularly, the above model is further extended to allow call admission above threshold under a certain admission probability related to the trafc load conditions and to the mobility characteristics of user terminals, thus introducing a probabilistic CAC scheme. Moreover, different call holding times are employed in contrast to the model proposed by Fang and Zhang [21], where the average channel holding times of all trafc types are assumed to be the same. This leads to a more accurate approach to the CAC problem in multi-SC networks. The analysis of the proposed probabilistic scheme has been rst carried out for two SCs with different QoS requirements corresponding to DT and DNT SC calls. Then, multiple SCs with different priority levels are considered. Closed form CBP expressions are derived for both the two and multi-SC cases, while simulations have been carried out for two SCs. The derived CBPs are also used to estimate how efciently the proposed scheme assigns priorities to the SCs supported under various trafc load conditions. Moreover, to examine the robustness of the priority assigning mechanism, both fairness in resource management among different SCs and network efciency are also examined. Finally, the performance and the efciency of the proposed scheme have been investigated with respect to externally imposed probabilities.

2. CAC schemes for multi-SC class prioritization 2.1. Related work Prioritization among new and handoff calls in wireless networks has been extensively investigated in the literature [9,10]. In modern multimedia wireless networks research as to resource management has been focused on CAC schemes that assign priority to DNT SC calls over DT ones. Assigning priority to certain SCs is accomplished by adopting criteria that relegate the admission of low priority calls. In [11] three schemes are proposed to assign priorities among calls of different SCs. In this course, the proposed schemes adopt different power thresholds. In [12], a larger maximum number of users is assigned to DNT SC calls over DT ones. A virtual partitioning resource allocation scheme is examined in [13] aiming at supporting multiclass trafc. Furthermore, a preemptive technique for best effort trafc classes is employed. In addition to these techniques, the reduction of available resources initially assigned to DT SC calls is proposed to provide higher priority to DNT SC calls [14]. In [5,15] services are classied with respect to their priority and QoS requirements. Resources are rst reserved for SCs of higher priority and, then, for those of lower priority. This results in rejecting incoming calls if the available resources cannot satisfy their QoS requirements. In [16] a hybrid cutoff priority scheme is proposed where each type of trafc has its own cutoff threshold. This scheme supports multiple SCs having their own requirements as to the required number of channels, the connection duration and the cutoff priority employed. The CAC algorithm proposed in [17] uses a priori determined thresholds for a number of ongoing calls. The threshold values are optimized employing non-linear programming. Apart from CAC schemes which base their admission criteria on a priori dened thresholds, dynamic resource allocation schemes have been proposed that adapt their admission rules to network variations. The complexity of these schemes is high but they lower signicantly the blocking and dropping probabilities. A novel dynamic resource allocation scheme for multimedia cellular wireless networks is proposed in [18] based on the min-max fairness proto-

3. System model and network assumptions A single cell of a next generation cellular mobile communication network is considered. The assumptions made and notations used are stated below. (1) The cellular network is assumed homogeneous; therefore it sufces to examine a single cell isolated from the others. Each network cell may serve U SCs of calls e.g. telephone, data, etc. (2) C is the bandwidth capacity of the cell expressed in terms of bandwidth units (BUs), whereas M = C/c is the total number of calls where c is the BUs required by an incoming call. The BUs needed by each call may vary into the range [cmin, cmax] according to its QoS requirements [23]. Thus, the capacity of the cell expressed by the total number of ongoing calls may vary signicantly depending on the mixture of the different SC calls served. (3) As different SC calls with their own QoS characteristics are considered, some calls may have admission priority over the others; therefore, a scheme assigning priorities has been adopted. It is assumed that a u SC call (u = 1, . . . , U) has lower priority than a (u + 1) SC call. (4) To assign different priorities among the SCs [24], it is assumed that SCs of low priority are constrained by a certain threshold Lu, which denotes the number of ongoing

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1047

(5)

(6)

(7)

(8)

(9)

(10)

calls above which u SC calls are blocked [25]. Thus, a new call belonging to a low priority u SC is admitted if the already occupied BUs by all SCs are less than Cu, where Cu = cLu. To assign different priority levels to various SCs, we assume Lu < Lu+1. In the proposed probabilistic scheme, the thresholds Lu (u = 1, 2, . . . , U) are the critical levels where the admission policy changes. Class u new and handoff calls are generated in a cell according to the Poisson distribution with rates ku,N and ku,H, respectively [2628]. This assumption is typical when CAC is studied on a call level basis [2932]. On the contrary, this is not the case when CAC is examined on a packet level, where data packet arrival exhibits a long range dependence [33]. However, since this study focuses on examining CAC on a call level basis the Poisson distribution has been adopted to model call arrivals [34]. The requested call connection times (RCCT) by new and handoff calls are assumed exponentially distributed with mean values 1/hu,N and 1/hu,H, respectively. In particular, the assumptions of Poisson arrivals and exponential service times are made to keep the analysis tractable. This reasonable set of assumptions has been widely used in literature [6,16,22,28]. The cell residence time (CRT), i.e. the time a mobile terminal stays within a cell during a single visit, is assumed to be exponentially distributed with mean value 1/ru. CRT depends on the velocity and the direction of the mobile terminal [35]. The parameter 1/ru is used to model several network features. Firstly, a call blocked by the cell under consideration might not be blocked by the network. This may occur when the mobile terminal is located near the boundaries of the cell, where cells overlap to ensure the full coverage of the region [36]. Secondly, modern wireless systems employ borrowing strategies [37]. This means that if a call is initiated at a cell while all its channels are occupied, an available channel from a neighboring cell may be borrowed provided that it does not interfere with ongoing calls. Both features are incorporated into 1/ru, which is intuitively explained since a pushed out u SC call to a neighboring cell follows the same protocol as those u SC calls that move out of the cell before the termination of the call. The overall arrival rate ku incorporating new and handoff calls in a single network cell of users belonging to u SC is assumed equal to ku=ku,N + ku,H [6,3840]. The aggregation of the individual arrival rates of each SC is employed to treat the total incoming load of u SC in a uniform way. Under the same rationale, the respective overall mean call holding time in a single network cell is assumed equal to 1/lu = 1/(hu,N + hu,H + ru). The probabilistic framework proposed may also be used to assign priorities to handoff calls, although in the present work only the application of the probabilistic scheme to prioritize different SCs is considered. The trafc intensity of u SC calls in a single network cell qu is dened as the ratio of the overall birth rate (ku) to the overall mean call holding time (lu), namely qu = ku/ lu = (ku,N + ku,H)/(hu,N + hu,H + ru). The cell states are represented by the vector  n n1 ; n2 ; . . . ; nu ; . . . ; nU , where nu, u = 1, . . . , U, denotes the number of ongoing u SC calls in the cell. Furthermore, n = n1 + n2 + . . . + nU denotes the total ongoing trafc load  expressed as the number of calls at state n.

4. Probabilistic call admission control The probabilistic CAC scheme for multi-SC wireless NGNs proposed in the present work under the name probabilistic bandwidth reservation scheme (PBRS) is based on the total number of BUs occupied in a cell. The multiple SCs supported by the network necessitate the use of multidimensional Markov chains, where each dimension of the chain corresponds to a different SC call stream. The rationale behind PBRS is to treat new SC calls of low priority by adjusting their admission rate according to trafc variations. This is accomplished imposing different admission probabilities. Thus, as the network trafc is building up, call streams of low priority are progressively reduced to make room for high priority SC calls and guarantee the QoS of ongoing calls. Therefore, as the available network resources are reduced, the number of low priority calls is also gradually reduced. This is achieved by assigning certain admission probabilities to different states of the multidimensional markovian chain adaptively to different SC trafc load conditions. The admission probability of low priority SC calls is lowered as the network trafc is rising up. On the other hand, calls of high priority SCs are always admitted unless all BUs are occupied; then, all calls are blocked. Different policies concerning the admission probabilities result in relevant variations of the admission process. It can easily be demonstrated that the proposed PBRS scheme incorporates the thinning, multiple thresholding and guard channel schemes, which constitute special cases of the proposed general scheme. To examine PBRS efciency with regard to priority, fairness and throughput, analytical CBP expressions are derived. The analysis is carried out rst for two SCs and, then, it is generalized for multiple SCs. 4.1. Probabilistic CAC for two SCs In this subsection two prioritized SCs are considered. SC1 (u = 1) refers to low priority calls (e.g. DT services) while SC2 (u = 2) refers to high priority calls (e.g. DNT services). The threshold for SC1 calls is L. An SC1 call is admitted provided that the total number of ongoing calls of both SCs is below L. Up to the point when all network resources are occupied, SC2 calls are unhinderly admitted by a network cell, implying that the threshold for SC2 calls is equal to M. Calls belonging to SC1 are admitted to a network cell with a certain probability fn,1 (n = 0, 1, . . . , M 1) associated with the number of ongoing calls in the cell n = n1 + n2. In the proposed probabilistic scheme, L represents the critical level imposing change of the admission policy by adjusting fn,1. Therefore, to suppress the admission rate of new DT calls as the network trafc is building up, that is, as n increases , fn,1 becomes lower. Specically,

fn;1

f d; n < L f a; L6n<M

where fa < fd. The Markovian analysis of the PBRS scheme is carried out using the transition diagram of Fig. 1. Each state is characterized by the number of SC 1 and 2 calls, n1 and n2 respectively. Any cell state  n n1 ; n2 may be obtained from the two-dimensional Markov chain corresponding to the truncated state space

 S fn n1 ; n2 ; 0 6 n2 6 M; 0 6 n1 6 M n2 ; n1 n2 6 Mg:
 The transition probabilities from state n n1 ; n2 2 S to state  n0 n01 ; n02 2 S are

A comprehensive list of the notations and terminology used is given in Table 1 for easy reference.

pn1 ; n2 jn1 1; n2 fn;1 k1 and pn1 ; n2 jn1 ; n2 1 fn;1 k1 ; pn1 ; n2 jn1 ; n2 1 k2 ;

for 0 6 n2 6 M 1 and 0 6 n1 6 M n2 1

2a 2b 2c

1048 Table 1 Notations and denitions. Notation U M u Lu ku,N ku,H 1/hu,N 1/hu,H 1/ru ku 1/lu Meaning

G.I. Tsiropoulos et al. / Computer Communications 34 (2011) 10451054

qu
nu  n n1 ; n2 ; . . . ; nU n fn,u

Total number of SCs Total number of BUs in a cell Index denoting the SC u = 1, 2, . . . , U Threshold of occupied BUs by all SCs corresponding to low priority calls Arrival rate of new calls Arrival rate of handoff calls Mean holding time of new calls Mean holding time of handoff calls Cell residence time The total arrival rate The total mean holding time Trafc intensity Instantaneous BUs occupancy by u SC calls Representation of the cell state  Total number of BUs occupied at state n Probabilistic factor for PBRS

pn1 ; n2 jn1 1; n2 n1 l1 ;
for 0 6 n2 6 M for 1 6 n2 6 M and 1 6 n1 6 M n2

3 4

pn1 ; n2 jn1 ; n2 1 n2 l2 ;
and 0 6 n1 6 M n2 :

From the two-dimensional Markov state diagram depicted in Fig. 1, two remarks should be made. The rst remark is that BUs are assigned to DT calls with a different fractional probability at states characterized by the same number of occupied BUs by DT calls.   For example, consider states n n1 ; n2 and n0 n1 ; n2 1 with fractional probabilities fn1 n2 ;1 and fn1 n2 1;1 , respectively. In general, fn1 n2 ;1 fn1 n2 1;1 , which signies that the admission probabilities at states with different total number of ongoing calls are not necessarily the same, even if they have the same number of BUs occupied by DT calls. On the other hand, states with the same number of total number of ongoing calls have the same admission probability for DT calls, though they may differ in the number of BUs occupied  by DT calls. For example, consider states n n1 ; n2 and  n0 n1 1; n2 1. Since, both states have the same total number of ongoing calls, they have the same admission probability for DT calls, namely fn1 n2 ;1 , due to the dependence of fn,1 only on the total number of ongoing calls, making no discrimination between BUs occupied by DNT and by DT calls. The second remark is that states with the same total number of ongoing calls are equally treated by PBRS. This should be expected as PBRS bases its admission criterion on the total occupied BUs and not on the specic number of BUs separately occupied by different   SCs. Hence, states n n1 ; n2 and n0 n1 1; n2 1 cannot be

Fig. 1. Transition diagram for PBRS CAC.

G.I. Tsiropoulos et al. / Computer Communications 34 (2011) 10451054

1049

distinguished, as they have the same total number of calls. To proceed with the detailed balance equation, the assumption l1 = l2 is proposed in the literature, reducing the two-dimensional Markov state diagram to a one-dimensional Markov chain. This assumption is adopted by CAC schemes used to prioritize handoff calls in single SC networks [21] but it is not valid in multi-SC networks, where different mean call holding times (l1 l2) are assumed to comply with different SC QoS characteristics. To derive the detailed balance equation, every state is characterized by the total number of ongoing calls n and not by n1, n2, separately. Hence, the steady state probability is denoted as p(n).  Let u(x) denote the step function and ux its complementary one. Based on the transition diagram of Fig. 1, the following global balance equation is derived

PM pb 1t P

nL n1 !
n

q11

PL

q11 L n0 n1 !

Pn
q11
n

n1 0 nn1 ! n1 0 nn1 !
2 Mn1 !

q2

nn1

q2

nn1

13

PL pb 2t P

Mn1

n1 0 n1 !
n

q11 L n0 n1 !

Pn

n1 0 nn1 !

q2

nn1

14

Evidently, when L = M, PBRS becomes a non-prioritizing scheme, conrming that PBRS incorporates priority based, threshold driven and thinning schemes. 4.2. Probabilistic CAC for multiple SCs In the multi-SC case, each SC corresponds to a different priority level. Thus, a probability denoted by fn,u depending on the ongoing number of calls of each SC. Due to the different QoS characteristics of the SCs supported, each SC may be treated independently, that is

 un1 n2 Mfn;1 k1 k2 n1 l1 n2 l2 pn  un1 n2 1 Mun1 1fn1;1 k1 un2 1k2 pn 1  un1 n2 1 Mn1 1l1 n2 1l2 pn 1; 5

( fn;u

where 0 6 n1 + n2 6 M. Then, the steady state probabilities p(n) are obtained from the following detailed balance equation

d fu ; n < Lu a fu ;

Lu 6 n < M

15

pn

n X n1 0

Qn1 1
l0

fn;1 qn1 qnn1 1 2 p0; n1 ! n n1 !

06n6M

where n 2 S and p(0) is the normalization factor. As p(n) satises

M X n0

pn 1

the normalization factor p(0) is obtained from

p0

" M n Q X X n1 1 fn;1 qn1

l0 1 n0 n1 0

n1 !

qnn1 2

#1 : 8

a d where fu < fu and Lu acts as the threshold where the admission probability changes. Let Xt X 1 t; X 2 t; . . . ; X u t; . . . ; X U t be the vector of different SC calls in the cell examined at time t. Moreover, assume that at each state a unique bandwidth allocation to ongoing calls exists. Given that Xu(t), u = 1, 2,. . . , U, are reversible processes it may easily be proven that Xt is also a reversible process satisfying the truncation property [6]. Thus, a state of a single network cell  supporting multiple SCs is represented by n n1 ; n2 ; . . . ; nU with the truncated state space

n n1 !

 S0 fn n1 ; n2 ; . . . ; nU ; 0 6 n1 n2 . . . nU 6 Mg:
Let us dene

In PBRS, a DT call is blocked not only when n = M, that is when the maximum bandwidth capacity of the cell has been reached, but, also, due to the reduction of fn,1. Thus, the CBP of DT calls consists of two terms. The rst term is the blocking probability due to lack of available BUs given by
0

(  Hn,

1; for n 2 S0 0; for n R S0

16

PM
n0

Qn1 1
l0

n fn;1 q11

pb 1

n1 0

PM Pn

Q1n1 1
l0

n !

Mn1 !
n 2 nn1 !

Mn q2 1

fn;1 q11

nn1

n1 0

n1 !

Furthermore, a row vector Iu of length U is dened with all its elements equal to zero except for the uth element which is equal to one to denote the corresponding SC. If the transition probability       from state n to n0 ; n; n0 2 S0 , is denoted by pn; n0 , the transition rates in the multi-SC case satisfy

The second term is the CBP of the DT calls which are blocked due to the reduction of the admission probability fn,1 given by
00 pb 1

   pn; n Iu Hn Iu fn;u ku    pn; n Iu Hn Iu nu lu :

17 18

PM Pn
n0 n0

1fn;1

Qn1 1
l0

fn;1 q11
n

n1 0 n1 0

PM Pn

Qn1 1
l0

n1 ! fn;1 q11

2 nn1 ! nn1

nn1

n1 !

2 nn1 !

10

Applying Markovian analysis, the global balance equation is obtained from

" U X
u1

 Hn Iu fn;u ku " U X
u1

U X u1

  Hn Iu nu lu Pn # U X  Iu ; nu 1lu Pn
u1

The total CBP of DT calls for PBRS is obtained adding the above CBPs

pb 1

0 pb 1

00 pb : 1

11

 Hn

 fn1;u ku Pn Iu

19

Due to its priority over DT calls, a DNT call is blocked by PBRS only if all cell BUs are occupied. From the two-dimensional Markov state diagram it is deduced that a DNT call is blocked when n = n1 + n2 = M; hence, the CBP of DNT calls is obtained from

  where Pn denotes the steady state probability of state n 2 S0 . Let S0n & S0 , where

 S0n fn n1 ; n2 ; . . . ; nU ; n1 n2 . . . nU n; n 6 Mg:
Let P(n) dene the probability of n ongoing calls. Appropriate processing of the above global balance equation yields P(n)

pb pb : 2 1

12

Note that, if the probabilistic factor fn,1 is equal to unity for n = 0, 1, . . . , L 1 and equal to zero for n = L, L + 1, . . . , M 1, PBRS falls into a traditional priority based CAC scheme, where it is the threshold L that determines the admission of a DT call, referred to as cutoff priority scheme [21]. In this case, the CBPs of DT pb 1t b and DNT p2t calls are obtained from

Pn

X
 n n2S0

 Pn G1

U XY  n n2S0 u1

Qnu 1
i0

fn1 ...i...nu ;u qnu u ; nu !

20

where n = 1, . . . , M and G is the normalization factor. Since P(n) must satisfy the normalization equation

1050
M X n1

G.I. Tsiropoulos et al. / Computer Communications 34 (2011) 10451054

Pn 1

21

G is given by

" G

U XY  n2S0 u1

Qnu 1
i0

fn1 ...i...nu ;u qnu u nu !

#1 : 22

measure fairness in terms of resources allocated to users, ignoring the call admission process. Hence, in the present work JFI is not appropriate to measure fairness, since the proposed probabilistic CAC framework assigning priorities among different SCs is studied based on the CBPs achieved and not on how resources are allocated among ongoing users. Consequently, a new fairness metric is introduced here to examine the extent of unfairness caused by the proposed probabilistic CAC scheme. To this end, the fairness index (F)

Based on the steady state distribution and given that a u SC call  belonging to state n 2 S0 is blocked with probability 1 fn,u, the blocking probability for u SC is

F,

U 2 1 X B Pu Pe Pe u1

25

PB u

M X 1 fn;u Pn: n1

23

is dened where P B is the blocking probability of a u SC call in a cell u given by (23) and

Setting f0;u f1;u fLu1 ;u 1 and fLu ;u fM1;u 0 for u = 1, , U, PBRS is falls into a threshold based scheme, where Lu is the threshold for the u SC calls. Furthermore, when Lu = M and fn, u = 1 for 0 6 n 6 M 1 and u = 1, . . . , U, PBRS becomes a non-prioritizing scheme.

Pe

U 1 X B P U u1 u

26

5. Criteria for performance evaluation In the following, performance criteria for the proposed CAC scheme are dened. The efciency of the priority assigning mechanism is evaluated through an appropriate priority index. Also, a fairness metric based on CBP is dened. This metric will next be used in the following to evaluate the performance of the CAC scheme with regard to fairness among calls of different SCs. Furthermore, a method for the estimation of the network throughput is also presented based on CBP. 5.1. The Service Class Priority Ratio (SCPR) The introduction of SCPR reects the necessity for evaluating the efciency of the priority mechanism of CAC schemes that support variable multi-SC trafc load. The call admission probability of each SC is signicantly affected since the proposed CAC scheme assigns different priority levels to different SCs. The priority assigning mechanism favors the admission of high priority SC calls as opposed to low priority SC ones, differentiating the respective admission probabilities. To measure the extent of priority introduced between two SCs, SCPR is dened as the ratio of the CBPs corresponding to a low priority SC and to a high priority one, that is

is the average blocking probability in the same cell. The fairness index dened is an unbounded quantity and corresponds to the squared coefcient variation of each SC CBP [44]. A CAC scheme is considered ideally fair if F = 0. To enhance the physical interpretation of the results, it should be noted that the relation between F and fairness is an inverse one, that is, as fairness increases, F becomes lower. A CAC scheme achieves a low value of F in a network cell, if the CBPs of calls belonging to different SCs do not differ signicantly. 5.3. Network throughput Apart from being fair, a CAC scheme should also be efcient offering high network throughput as measured by the number of calls admitted per unit of time [42] which is dened as follows

T,

U X u1

  k1 1 PB : u u

27

Through expression (27), the contribution of each SC trafc to the overall cell throughput is related to the corresponding SC arrival rate and the admission probability providing a comprehensive metric. Note that, when the network operates near congestion, severely blocked SCs have a minimum contribution to the overall network throughput. 6. Numerical results and performance evaluation The performance of the proposed schemes has been evaluated under different trafc load conditions. The probabilistic framework adopted in the present work has been proven capable to provide priority to DNT calls in NGN. The numerical results intend to mark out how the probabilities imposed through the priority assigning mechanism enhance the performance of the proposed scheme under variable trafc load. Moreover, extensive simulations were performed employing a discrete event simulation program developed in C++ to validate the accuracy of the probabilistic model. Simulation results are marked by the square symbol h in the gures. The CAC scheme considered has been studied by varying both types of trafc load assuming k1 = 1/20, k2 = 1/40, C = 70, L = 30. To determine the cell capacity in terms of ongoing calls we consider the worst case scenario for the call capacity where c is equal to its maximum value, namely c = cmax. Thus, for cmax = 2 the maximum total number of ongoing calls becomes M = 35. For the results obtained under variable DNT load l1 = 1/350 whereas l2 varied from 1/200 to 1/1200. When considering variable DT trafc load was considered l2 = 1/600 whereas l1 varied from 1/240 to 1/ 2400. To study the relevant performance of PBRS, three sets of admission probabilities fn,1 for DT calls were examined. Note that

CBPlow priority PB SCPR, l > 1; CBPhigh priority PB h

24

where h > l, that is h SC calls have a higher priority over l SC ones. SCPR quanties the dissimilar treatment of two SCs supported by the multi-SC network. To establish low priority discrimination between two SCs, SCPR must be close to unity. Higher SCPR values reect highly different priority levels. 5.2. The fairness index The variation of CBP resulting from an effective priority mechanism is desirable up to a certain extent. Signicant CBP differences among various SCs may lead to undesirable unfairness, where SCs of low priority may always be blocked, while SCs of high priority may always be admitted to the network. Therefore, fairness among various SCs is another major issue concerning both network administrators and users. Fairness specications should guarantee that the blocking probabilities do not differ so much that some SCs are blocked at an unacceptable rate [4144]. A common metric used to measure fairness in resource management is Jains fairness index (JFI) [45,46]. This index is used to

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fn,1 is composed of the parameters set fa and fd as dened in (1). To form the three probabilistic sets, fd was set equal to 0.9, 0.8 and 0.7 and fa equal to 0.1, 0.2 and 0.3 respectively. This was done to compensate for the unfairness caused to DT calls, since any decrease of the admission probability imposed on states below threshold was accompanied by an equal increase of the admission probability imposed on states above threshold. In what follows, the results obtained demonstrate the interactions between the performance metrics and the key parameters. 6.1. Blocking probabilities and SCPR To assess how effective PBRS is in assigning priorities, the CBPs achieved by PBRS are plotted versus the DNT and DT trafc load in Figs. 2 and 3, respectively, for the three values of fn,1. The CBP achieved via non-probabilistic CAC which is the traditional approach is also plotted. Fig. 2 demonstrates that, by employing lower values of fd, PBRS achieves lower CBPs for both DT (CBPdt) and DNT (CBPdnt) calls. This is attributed to the effective management of the available BUs, especially for states above threshold. A similar behavior regarding CBP is observed from Fig. 3. It should be noted that when the DT input load is low, CBPdt is mainly leveraged by the value of the imposed probability. In the view of the above, PBRS achieves the desirable SCPR value under variable input trafc load through appropriate selection of fn,1. Consequently, this selection determines the priority level assigned to DNT SC calls. Furthermore, the appropriate selection of the imposed admission probability may signicantly improve the performance of the proposed scheme by lowering the CBP of a certain SC. We also note that the simulation and the analysis agree with each other very well, which validates the analytical model. 6.2. Fairness evaluation In Fig. 4 the fairness index demonstrated by PBRS is plotted versus DT and DNT input trafc load for different values of fn,1. Under low DNT input trafc load, PBRS achieves low levels of fairness, primarily inuenced by fn,1. As the network load is building up, the fairness index decreases leading to a fairer management of the cell bandwidth capacity. Considering the fairness performance of PBRS with respect to fn,1, it should be noted that fairness is improved by lowering fd. This is attributed to the probabilistic nature of the scheme that, apart from achieving lower CBPs for all the SCs supported, especially for DT ones, it also connes the CBP differences. This is clearly shown by both the numerical and the simulation results. Hence, fairness improvement, when the input trafc load increases, is achieved maintaining the operation of the priority assigning mechanism of PBRS, as the SCPR value is above unity. This feature constitutes the main advantage of PBRS, demonstrating the superiority of the probabilistic framework adopted in the proposed CAC scheme. Examining the fairness index of PBRS with regard to DT input load, similar conclusions are deduced. However, it should be pointed out that the fairness index values at low DT input loads are mainly driven by the imposed probability. Moreover, the fairness index takes its maximum value under moderate DT trafc load resulting due to the maximization of the CBP differences of the SCs supported. As to applying different sets of probabilities under moderate and high trafc load, fairness is improved by decreasing fd. 6.3. Throughput evaluation In Fig. 5 PBRS throughput is plotted with respect to both DT and DNT input trafc load for different values of fn,1. It is clear that the selection of lower fd values results in higher throughput performance under variable DNT trafc load. Similar conclusions may be deduced for PBRS throughput under moderate and high DT trafc

Fig. 2. Call blocking probability of PBRS as a function of DNT trafc load showing the impact of fd and fa.

Fig. 3. Call blocking probability of PBRS as a function of DT trafc load showing the impact of fd and fa.

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load. Only under low DT trafc load, throughput is leveraged by the imposed probability; consequently, PBRS throughput performance is reversed for higher DT load, leading to higher throughput for lower values of fd. The proper choice of fn,1 by PBRS results in better fairness and higher network throughput. Thus, the overall performance of the algorithm is improved, achieving optimal resource management and network utilization. The behavior improvement achieved by the proposed scheme is of utmost importance when considering heavy multi-SC class trafc conditions in NGNs, where CAC operation is critical to avoid network congestion. 6.4. Joint performance evaluation To perform a joint evaluation of the proposed scheme by appropriately incorporating the various performance criteria, certain indicative cases have been selected to demonstrate the distinct features of the algorithm. To provide a joint evaluation of PBRS, two cases are considered, classied according to the aggregate trafc intensity of both SCs. This is done since PBRS bases its admission decision on the number of total occupied BUs without taking into account how BUs are allocated to users within a certain SC. In Tables 2 and 3 the absolute values of three performance criteria and the corresponding improvement achieved through PBRS, over the traditional non-probabilistic one are presented. Under low and moderate total trafc load, represented by Case I, PBRS improves the performance of the priority mechanism as shown by the increase in SCPR. Moreover, in most cases lower values of fd also lead to a signicant improvement in fairness and throughput. To illustrate PBRS performance, consider the situation where q1 = 35 and q2 = 8.75. As easily seen from Table 3, fairness and throughput can be increased by 11% and 36%, respectively, by setting fd equal to 0.7 and the corresponding fa equal to 0.3. Under heavy trafc load conditions represented by Case II, PBRS achieves a remarkable improvement in

fairness and throughput while maintaining similar priority levels. For example, assume that a wireless network operates under q1 = 30 and q2 = 35 trafc load intensities and that the administrator requires a 20% fairness improvement. As can be seen, fd values equal to 0.9 or 0.8 cannot satisfy the required specication. However, by setting fd and fa equal to 0.7 and 0.3 respectively, the required 20% fairness improvement is achieved. At the same time, throughput is also improved at the cost of an acceptable slight reduction of SCPR.

7. Conclusions and future work A CAC scheme for NGNs was introduced based on a probabilistic framework to regulate the admission of low priority SC calls. Through this probabilistic framework, a novel priority assigning mechanism is introduced based on the selection of the admission probability of DT SC calls. Assuming independent call holding times for each SC supported, analytical expressions estimating CBP were provided based on Markov chain theory. Apart from the CBPs achieved, the proposed CAC scheme was evaluated under certain criteria concerning the effectiveness of the priority mechanism, fairness in resource management and network throughput. The numerical results demonstrate that the proposed probabilistic approach improves the performance of the CAC scheme examined, while the simulation results indicate the accuracy of the analysis validating the proposed model. The trafc load conditions along with the required throughput may be combined with the preferred policy concerning priority and fairness among different SCs to determine the appropriate admission probability for low priority SC calls. The proposed probabilistic scheme also achieves enhanced fairness and throughput performance under heavy load conditions, whereas under low trafc load, the probabilistic framework puts emphasis on the improvement of the priority assigning mechanism.

Fig. 4. Fairness index of PBRS as a function of DNT and DT trafc load showing the impact of fd and fa.

Fig. 5. Throughput of PBRS as a function of DNT and DT trafc load showing the impact of fd and fa.

G.I. Tsiropoulos et al. / Computer Communications 34 (2011) 10451054 Table 2 Numerical results comparing the PBRS approach with the traditional (non-probabilistic) approach. Trafc load conditions Traditional approach Probabilistic approach fd = 0.9, fa = 0.1 Case I fd = 0.8, fa = 0.2 27.1 4.6 3 2.8 2 1.7

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fd = 0.7, fa = 0.3 79.4 5.8 3.2 3 2 1.6

q1 = 20, q2 = 8.75 q1 = 35, q2 = 8.75 q1 = 30, q2 = 20 q1 = 50, q2 = 8.75 q1 = 30, q2 = 35 q1 = 30, q2 = 50

SCPR 9.1 3.8 2.8 2.8 2.1 1.7

13.4 4 2.9 2.8 2.1 1.7

Case II

Fairness index Case I

q1 = 20, q2 = 8.75 q1 = 35, q2 = 8.75 q1 = 30, q2 = 20 q1 = 50, q2 = 8.75 q1 = 30, q2 = 35 q1 = 30, q2 = 50

0.26 0.38 0.29 0.3 0.18 0.11

0.25 0.35 0.27 0.27 0.17 0.1

0.26 0.34 0.26 0.25 0.15 0.09

0.32 0.34 0.25 0.24 0.14 0.08

Case II

Throughput Case I

q1 = 20, q2 = 8.75 q1 = 35, q2 = 8.75 q1 = 30, q2 = 20 q1 = 50, q2 = 8.75 q1 = 30, q2 = 35 q1 = 30, q2 = 50

51 33 28 27 21 17

53 37 30 29 23 19

54 41 34 32 26 20

53 45 37 36 28 22

Case II

Table 3 Improvement achieved through PBRS with regard to the traditional (non-probabilistic) approach. Trafc load conditions SCPR change (%) f = 0.9 fa = 0.1 Case I
d

Fairness index improvement (%) f = 0.7 fa = 0.3 773 53 14 7 5 6

d

Throughput improvement (%) f = 0.7 fa = 0.3 23 11 14 20 22 27

d

f = 0.8 fa = 0.2 198 21 7 0 5 0

f = 0.9 fa = 0.1 4 8 7 10 6 9

f = 0.8 fa = 0.2 0 11 10 17 17 18

fd = 0.9 fa = 0.1 4 12 7 7 10 12

fd = 0.8 fa = 0.2 6 24 21 19 24 18

fd = 0.7 fa = 0.3 4 36 32 33 33 29

q1 = 20, q2 = 8.75 q1 = 35, q2 = 8.75 q1 = 30, q2 = 20 q1 = 50, q2 = 8.75 q1 = 30, q2 = 35 q1 = 30, q2 = 50

47 5 4 0 0 0

Case II

Our current and future research in this area will be focused on dynamically adjusting the probabilistic parameter for the CAC scheme proposed. Moreover, the optimization of the model with respect to the probabilistic parameter will be investigated under

performance constraints that take into account realistic trafc conditions scenarios appropriate for NGNs. To this end, the proposed probabilistic CAC scheme may evolve into a powerful tool in network resource management and QoS provision.

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