An Algorithm for UMTS Padding Optimization

In packet networks very often variable length packets must be padded with extra bits to match a given frame size. At the UMTS transport framework for transmitting IP packets, the proper design of the padding operation leads to the following optimization problem: given a certain number of different frames, determine the respective frame sizes so that the waste caused by padding of variable length packets is minimized. In this paper we analyze this problem and present an optimization procedure to solve it that requires simple computation and thus is well suited to implementation in an environment with limited processing resources.