Wireless multicasting: design and performance analysis

Advances in the area of image and voice compression have given way to transmission rates of a few kilobits/second for acceptable quality audio and video. Audio/video conferencing among multiple parties in cellular networks is therefore a distinct possibility. We present an algorithm for designing a mobile cellular network that can support multicasting applications. The mobile network may consist of one or more tiers, which correspond to different user velocities. Communication channels are partitioned across tiers. The objective of network design is to minimize call loss probability by selecting an appropriate frequency reuse pattern and suitably partitioning network resources across tiers. Earlier work in this area has only concentrated on point-to-point communications. We permit multicast communications that may involve users from more than one tier. We describe a cost optimization algorithm for designing cellular networks that can support multicast traffic. We also describe a performance analysis of the designed network through analytical and simulation techniques.