Application of intelligent agents in channel allocation strategies for mobile networks

Resource flexibility is one of the most important requirements in the next generation of mobile communications. Techniques are required to increase the flexibility of the network to deal with new services and the consequent new traffic profiles and characteristics. This paper investigates some of the drawbacks of fully reactive channel allocation schemes and proposes a more flexible scheme using intelligent agents that will lead to an efficient solution under moderate and heavy loads. The agent architecture adopted provides greater autonomy to the base stations and a method for allowing cooperation and negotiation between them; this autonomy and cooperation allows an increase in flexibility to deal with new traffic situations and an increase of the robustness of the network as a whole.