QoS-aware dynamic bandwidth reallocation with deadline assurance for multipath data offloading

摘要

Multipath mobile data offloading allows a user equipment (UE) to efficiently aggregate bandwidth from the cellular network and WiFi network. In deadline assurance services, users with a WiFi connection usually have more bandwidth than they require. However, those without a WiFi connection usually lack the bandwidth they need. As a result, only some of the users have a good service experience. Accordingly, this study proposes two QoS-aware bandwidth allocation algorithms for cellular network operators in which the excess cellular bandwidth allocated to QoS-satisfied sessions is reallocated to QoS-unsatisfied sessions in accordance with an Earliest Deadline First (QEDF) allocation policy or a Smallest Download Size First (QSSF) allocation policy, respectively. The effectiveness of the proposed algorithms is demonstrated by means of numerical simulations. It is shown that both algorithms successfully improve the service quality by reducing both the deadline miss ratio of the deadline assurance service and the amount of saved LTE bandwidth. (C) 2019 Published by Elsevier B.V.