System modeling and performance evaluation of rate allocation schemes for packet data services in wideband CDMA systems

To fully exploit the potential of a wideband CDMA-based mobile Internet computing system, an efficient algorithm is needed for judiciously performing rate allocation, so as to orchestrate and allocate bandwidth for voice services and high data rate applications. However, in existing standards (e.g., cdma2000), only a first-come-first-served equal sharing allocation algorithm is used, potentially leading to a low bandwidth utilization and inadequate support of high data rate multimedia mobile applications (e.g., video/audio files swapping, multimedia messaging services, etc.). In this paper, we first analytically model the rate allocation problem that captures realistic system constraints such as downlink power limits and control, uplink interference effects, physical channel adaptation, and soft handoff. We then suggest six efficient rate allocation schemes that are designed based on different philosophies: rate optimal, fairness-based, and user-oriented. Simulations are performed to evaluate the effectiveness of the rate allocation schemes using realistic system parameters in our model.