Fair Channel Quality-Based Scheduling Scheme for HSDPA System Bader Al-Manthari , Nidal Nasser , Hossam Hassanein 1 1 2 1 Telecommunications Research Laboratory School of Computing, Queen’s University Kingston, ON, Canada K7L 3N6 {manthari, hossam}@cs.queensu.ca 2 Department of Computing & Information Science University of Guelph Guelph, Ontario, N1G 2W1 Canada nasser@cis.uoguelph.ca Abstract Channel dependant scheduling schemes for High Speed Downlink Packet Access (HSDPA) system such as Max CIR and Proportional Fairness (PF) have been proven to provide a significant throughput gain by exploiting the channel fluctuations of the users. However, their inability to ensure a fair distribution of the radio resources among the mobile users has been a major concern. In earlier study [6], we proposed a Fair and Efficient Channel Dependent (FECD) algorithm for HSDPA to provide a priority scheduling between users based on their instantaneous channel conditions and their average throughputs. The FECD algorithm aims at increasing the data rates of the users by exploiting the variations of their channel conditions while at the same time ensure a fair distribution of the radio resources. We evaluated the performance of the FECD algorithm in Pedestrian A environment. In this paper, however, we extended our simulation model to include evaluating the proposed algorithm in Vehicle A environment. Simulation results show that the proposed algorithm in both environments outperforms the maximum CIR and the Proportional Fair schemes in terms of providing minimum throughput assurance and, therefore, it has a better degree of fairness. 1. Introduction The continuous success of mobile communication systems, as well as its consequences in terms of the need of better Quality of Service (QoS), more efficient systems and more services has led to the development of the third generation (3G) of mobile systems or Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS). UMTS promises a transmission rate of up to 2 Mbps which makes it possible to provide a global mobility with a wide range of services including video telephony, paging, messaging, Internet access and broadband data. However, it is excepted that there will be a strong demand for multimedia applications which require higher data rates above 2 Mbps in cellular systems, especially in the downlink, where users will enjoy high-speed Internet access and broadcast services. To boost the support for such high data rates, High Speed Downlink Packet Access (HSDPA) has been introduced in release 5 of UMTS [1]. HSDPA promises a transmission rate of up to 10 Mbps five times greater than that of 3G/UMTS systems. In HSDPA, high-speed packet transmission is possible by code or/and time sharing a data channel among access users. This channel is called High-Speed Downlink Shared Channel (HS-DSCH). UMTS already includes a downlink shared channel but HSDPA extends this concept to provide significantly higher throughput and, hence, more efficient use of the radio spectrum. Within the UMTS architecture, Radio Resource Management (RRM) entity is responsible for utilization of the air interface resources, covering packet scheduling, handoff management and admission control. With the introduction of HSDPA, better RRM techniques are needed to improve system performance by maximizing the overall system capacity and maintaining the QoS of multimedia traffic. In this paper we investigate the packet scheduling technique for HSDPA system. A Packet scheduler (PS) controls the allocation of channels to users within the coverage area of the system by deciding which user should transmit during a given time interval. Therefore, to a large extent; the PS determines the overall behavior of the system. One important factor that has been added to the scheduling problem in HSDPA is the channel conditions of the users. The scheduling algorithm in HSDPA should track the 221 1-4244-0212-3/06/$20.00/©2006 IEEE