Load balancing oriented Spectrum Management for UMTS Networks operating in Adaptive B3G Environments

The continuous introduction of applications and services for wireless communications is depicted on the convergence of mobile systems and IP networks, towards a global system, operating over a common access infrastructure, namely the "Beyond the 3rd Generation (B3G) wireless access infrastructure". In such context, the Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) will constitute one of the most common operating Radio Access Technologies (RATs), where Network Providers (NPs) will need to manage their specific resources (spectrum), so as to deliver services efficiently and cost-effectively. This paper deals with such issues, by presenting functionality for managing UMTS spectrum in B3G environments. The Demand Allocation into Multiple UMTS Carriers (DAMUC) method proposed herein results in finding the optimum partitioning of the demand to the multiple available, UMTS carrier frequencies (carriers) owned by a single NP. The method investigates certain demand allocation possibilities and selects the most appropriate one in terms of partitioning the demand as per balancing the uplink load (uplink loading factors) between the carriers. Moreover, results from the application of the method in a simulated network are also contained.