Optimum Radio Channel Allocation Taking Account of Both Frequency and Power Constraints for Wide-Area Wireless Access Systems

摘要

In wide-area wireless access systems such as satellite communications systems and stratospheric platform systems, electric power supplies for radio communications are realized using solar photovoltaic cells and/or fuel cells. However, the on-board weight limits restrict the number of cells that can be equipped. In addition, the transmission power of such systems is limited taking account of issues and regulations on sharing the same frequency band with other systems. Hence, both the frequency band and electric power is limited, which are crucial radio resources for those systems. Although radio channel allocation methods taking account of the frequency constraint only or the power constraint only have been proposed, radio channel allocation methods taking account of both constraints simultaneously have been insufficiently studied. This paper proposes a radio channel allocation method that provides global optimum allocation results by utilizing the linear programming method. The proposed method has features such that the method first allocates radio channels in proportion to the traffic demand distributed over the service coverage area and then maximizes the total radio channels allocated to systems. Numerical results are presented for a stratospheric platform system that covers an area of Japan, as an example, to demonstrate that the proposed method optimally allocates radio channels taking account of both constraints while efficiently allocating excess resources. In addition, whether a system reaches either the frequency or power limit can be estimated, by investigating the radio channel allocation results. Furthermore, enhanced linear programming models based on a method aiming at practical use of the radio channel allocation results in operation are also introduced. The enhanced model is demonstrated to work effectively to avoid unbalanced radio channel allocations over geographical areas. The proposed method and linear programming models are useful not only for making pre-plans but also for determining the amount of necessary frequency and power resources in designing systems.