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Volume 1, Issue 3, September – October 2012 ISSN 2278-6856
Abstract: This technique is giving an efficient dynamic resource flexibility is one of the most important
allocation of communications channels which is essential for requirements in third-generation networks.
ensuring good performance of cellular networks. The work in This thesis proposes a distributed channel allocation
this project demonstrates that intelligent agent acting scheme using intelligent software agents for cellular
collaboratively in a multi-agent system is able to increase the
robustness of the cellular network as a whole, to distribute the
mobile networks. The main reason for using intelligent
knowledge and to allow negotiation of radio resources. software agents is to give greater autonomy to the base
The performance of the Distributed Fixed Channel Allocation stations; this autonomy allows
& Dynamic Channel Allocation schemes are compared and
the we found that the average call dropping probability of decrease in centralized information.
FCA scheme is 96% to 98% and the average call dropping Agent technology is an interdisciplinary area of research
probability of DCA is 26% to 28% in different conditions, so
that has received special
the Distributed Dynamic Channel Allocation scheme is
efficient than the FCA scheme. 1990s. The
Keywords: Efficiency, Intelligent Agent, Mobile definition of an agent is controversial, but in general
communication, Resource flexibility, Traffic Profiles. terms an agent can be described as a hardware or software
system with social ability that performs tasks with specific
1. INTRODUCTION aims in a complex and dynamic environment. Agents are
capable of autonomous
Techniques for increasing the efficiency of channel usage
in mobile networks are essential in order to handle the
unexpected events.
complexity of third generation mobile communications.
This thesis applies agents to the problem of mobile
Previous work on analogue and second generation mobile
resource allocation in such a way that they do not work in
communications has led to several algorithms being
isolation, but as a community. A community of agents is a
proposed to maximize the channel usage and minimize
multi-agent system, such a system being defined as a
the call blocking probability. Some channel assignment
group of agents with specific roles in an organisational
schemes presented in the literature [1]-[7] have improved
structure. The agents interact with the environment and
the performance of the basic fixed channel assignment
with each other in a co-ordinate way, as collaborators or
strategy for different traffic densities (macro/micro/pico
competitors, seeking to fulfill the local or global aims of the
cellular networks) over different traffic load conditions.
organization.
However, most of the solutions proposed have an entirely
reactive approach: the response to a series of events
follows an algorithm that is prepared to react to specific
situations. This limits their efficiency. Even those
A multi-agent system is able to provide this flexibility and
schemes that contain adaptive features are not ideal.
also is able to increase the robustness of the network by
Some schemes are completely centralized (which is
allowing negotiation when conflicts occur. This project
impractical for real implementation because of
describes the framework we are adopting to verify the
computational complexity making them too slow, or
feasibility of multi-agent systems in controlling resource
because the network would become overloaded with
assignment in mobile networks. Our agent architecture is
signaling messages) or are distributed, but restricted to
hierarchical, with a reactive part and a deliberative part.
individual base stations which again limits their
The reactive part is the lowest layer, ensuring fast
efficiency.
response to the needs of the cells in terms of channel
In order to accommodate multiple networks and services
allocation. The deliberative part is concerned with
with multiple bit rates within a limited frequency band,
optimization of the allocation of channels among cells
Volume 1, Issue 3, September – October 2012 Page 186
Web Site: www.ijettcs.org Email: editor@ijettcs.org, editorijettcs@gmail.com
Volume 1, Issue 3, September – October 2012 ISSN 2278-6856
and consists of two layers: one to meet the local goals of America, additional standards were introduced for digital
the individual base stations and another (the co-operative cellular systems using the same frequency spectrum as
layer) for load balancing in the network. AMPS. These standards integrated other multiple access
We are assuming a macro-cellular scenario where base techniques in addition to FDMA.
stations are not able to share information by interference The IS-54 standard, known as North American TDMA
measurements, but only by explicit exchange of (NA-TDMA) or Digital AMPS (D-AMPS), has integrated
information, and the resources are complete frequency the Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA) technique,
carriers. Although the results in this paper are based on where each frequency carrier is shared using time
an AMPS [8] model, the concept is completely generic division by up to 6 mobile users (currently 3 mobile
and the work could be extended to TDMA/CDMA. users).
Different cell structures (such as microcellular or In 1994, the IS-95 standard introduced the Code Division
hierarchical) could also be included. Multiple Access (CDMA) technique. It is based on the
spread-spectrum modulation in which multiple users have
2. MOBILE NETWORK access to the same band. Each mobile user is assigned a
The first generation of mobile communication started in unique orthogonal code called a Walsh code. The 12.5
1974; the Federal Communication Commission (FCC) MHz of a band is divided in 10 CDMA bands of 1.25
allocated a 40 MHz band in the 800 to 900 MHz MHz Each CDMA band supports 64 Walsh codes.
frequency range for cellular communications. The CDMA can offer about eight times the capacity of
Advanced Mobile Phone Systems (AMPS) standard was analogue [8].
introduced in 1979 and adopted by the FCC [4]. Licenses The drastic growth in the use of mobile communications
were issued in the market in 1982. An additional 10 MHz by public and business sectors increased the pressure to
band was allocated in 1988 and called Expanded integrate fixed and mobile networks. Now, mobile
Spectrum (ES). The licenses were divided into bands: networks are expected to have the same diversity of
Band A and band B. Cellular communication is full- services offered by fixed networks with the same quality
duplex and the frequency band is divided between both of service and security. Also, full mobility capability is
communication paths: 25 MHz is allocated to the forward expected. The mobile system needs to have the flexibility
path, which is the path from the base station transmitter to integrate world-wide the different types of mobile
towards the mobile terminal receiver. The other half is for communication systems available today, such as public
the reverse path in the opposite direction. The paths are and private cellular systems, data radio and satellite
separated by a 45 MHz guard band in order to avoid systems. These demands are beyond the technological
interference between the transmission and reception capabilities of the second generation of mobile
channels. communications. These pressures and developments in
Bands A and B each occupy 12.5 MHz: 10 MHz is Non- component technology, network management and service
Expanded Spectrum (NES) and 2.5 MHz is ES. The 12.5 engineering made inevitable the emergence of a third
MHz bands are divided into 30 kHz channels, making a generation of mobile communications. The aim of third
total of 416 channels per band. Twenty-one of these generation systems is to provide communication services
channels are used for specific procedure like channel from any person to any person at any place and at any
assignment, paging, messaging, etc. they are called time through any medium using a compact light-weight
control channels. The remaining channels are used for terminal with guaranteed quality of service and security.
conversation and called voice channels. In AMPS, each Frequency management in mobile networks has been a
frequency channel corresponds to a frequency carrier and hot topic for research in the past 20 years and the
only one mobile can be assigned per channel. Therefore, solutions proposed still present a lack of intelligence and
AMPS is solely Frequency Division Multiple Access flexible behaviour. The technological advances made in
(FDMA) and is an analogue cellular system. software and hardware in the last decade is providing the
means to introduce intelligence in control and
management of networks. The introduction of more
intelligence and flexible behaviour in the management of
channel allocation is the objective of this work.
3. The Cellular Concept
The cellular concept, conceived by Bell Systems under the
AMPS standard in 1979[9], is a mobile network
Figure 1 Cellular Band Allocation architecture composed ideally of hexagonal cells. The
The second generation of mobile communications, i.e. the cells represent geographic areas. Inside the cells, the
digital cellular systems, emerged in the 1990’s. In North users, called mobile telephone switching office (MTSO)
responsible for controlling the calls and acting as a To greatly increase the number of simultaneous calls
gateway to other networks. When an active user (i.e. a that can be covered by the same number of allocated
mobile station using a frequency channel) reaches the channel frequencies.
boundary of the cell, it needs to change its current Cell splitting is the reconfiguration of a cell into smaller
frequency channel for another belonging to the cells. This feature makes it possible for the same network to
neighbouring cell. This network procedure is known as service different densities of demand for channels. Larger
handoff or handover. Hand over can be either soft cells can serve low demand areas and smaller cells high
handover or hard handover. demand areas. Cell splitting is a long-term configuration
planning that allows the system to adjust to a
in which two adjacent cells are allocated N channels each. an agent can be described as a hardware or software system
There clearly can be situations in which one cell has a with social ability that performs tasks with specific
need for N+k channels while the adjacent cell only aims in a complex and dynamic environment. Agents are
requires N-m channels (for positive integer’s k and m). In capable of autonomous actions to pursue their objectives,
such a case, k users in the first cell would be blocked from despite the occurrence of expected or limited unexpected
making calls while m channels in the second cell would events. This thesis interests in the application of
go unused. Clearly in this situation of non-uniform spatial intelligent co-operative software agents.
offered traffic, the available channels are not being used The characteristics of software agents have inherited
efficiently. FCA has been implemented on a widespread aspects from distributed computing, such as; modularity,
level to date. speed (parallelism) and reliability (redundancy), and
Dynamic Channel Allocation Scheme from Artificial Intelligence (AI) in the knowledge
assignment of level; easier maintenance, reusability and platform
frequency channels to the cells of the cellular network. independence.
All frequency Agents can present different degrees of complexity,
station, the MSC normally known as granularity. Simple agents with little
chooses the appropriate frequency channel that gives or no intelligence regarding their behaviour are called
maximum channel efficiency taking into account all the reactive agents. More complex agents such as those
signal interference constraints. The channels are assigned possessing symbolic internal models, capable of knowing
for the duration of a call; after the call has finished, the their environment and able to reason about their goals are
channel is returned to the central pool or reallocated to a called cognitive or deliberative agents. As the complexity
mobile user inside the same cell site that was controlling of agents can be so broad, it is difficult to find the
the channel before. boundary between an agent and other types of control
Dynamic Channel Allocation (DCA) attempts to alleviate software. However, agents do present special properties
the problem mentioned for FCA systems when offered that distinguish them from other software systems. The
traffic is non-uniform. In DCA systems, no set main properties that software agents exhibit are autonomy,
relationship exists between channels and cells. Instead, social ability and reactivity.
channels are part of a pool of resources. Whenever a Autonomy is the ability to have control over its own actions
channel is needed by a cell, the channel is allocated under and states. An agent is able to make decisions and
the constraint that frequency reuse requirements cannot complete actions based on its internal representation of
be violated. There are two problems that typically occur the world without direct intervention of a human or a
with DCA based systems. central entity.
First, DCA methods typically have a degree of
randomness associated with them and this leads to the homogeneous or heterogeneous
fact that frequency reuse is often not maximized unlike software agents) via some kind of communication
the case for FCA systems in which cells using the same language in a co-ordinate manner. Agents may co-operate
channel are separated by the minimum reuse distance. in order to solve a problem or to achieve a task. The terms
Secondly, DCA methods often involve complex and conditions of the co-operation may be negotiated at
algorithms for deciding which available channel is most runtime.
efficient. These algorithms can be very computationally Reactivity is the ability to perceive changes in the
intensive and may require large computing resources in environment and react timely and appropriately.
order to be real-time. Software agents may also present other properties such as
Hybrid Channel Allocation pro-activity, learning, adaptability or mobility.
The third category of channel allocation methods includes Pro-activity is the ability to plan ahead and take the
all systems that are hybrids of fixed and dynamic channel initiative to perform actions that will contribute to the
allocation systems. Several methods have been presented goal achievement without waiting for external
that fall within this category and in addition, a great deal instructions or only responding to events in the environment.
of comparison has been made with corresponding
simulations and analyses [1]-[2]. actions as the agent reacts with
the environment and/or with other agents, in order to
5. INTELLIGENT AGENT avoid past mistakes or increase performance over time.
Adaptability is the ability to adapt to changes in the
Agent based technology is an interdisciplinary area of
environment, in order to continue to pursue its objectives.
research and it has received special attention from the
Learning is one of the factors that allow agents to have an
research community since the beginning of the 1990’s. The
adaptive behaviour.
definition of an agent is controversial, but in general terms,
Mobility is the ability to move around a network.
Volume 1, Issue 3, September – October 2012 Page 190
Web Site: www.ijettcs.org Email: editor@ijettcs.org, editorijettcs@gmail.com
Volume 1, Issue 3, September – October 2012 ISSN 2278-6856
8. SIMULATION RESULTS
Figure 10 Percentage of Call Drop for DCA
9. CONCLUSION
The cellular network implemented has nineteen cells, ten
nominal frequency channels per cell in a 7-cell cluster.
The network is a macro cellular structure. In each cell a
source call generator process generates the call requests
and randomly chooses an idle mobile station located
inside the cell to place the call. The pdf for the call inter-
arrival time and its mean value are changeable simulation
parameters. In the scenarios simulated in this work, a
negative exponential distribution was selected for call
inter-arrival time with different mean values depending
on the desired traffic load in the cell. The call length
Figure 7 Inputs given for simulation distribution is also a simulation parameter. Constant and
exponential call length distributions were used in the
Volume 1, Issue 3, September – October 2012 Page 192
Web Site: www.ijettcs.org Email: editor@ijettcs.org, editorijettcs@gmail.com
Volume 1, Issue 3, September – October 2012 ISSN 2278-6856