Spectrum Management Strategies for Efficient UMTS Integration in Wireless beyond 3G Infrastructures

The future of telecommunications is depicted on the convergence of mobile systems and IP networks, towards a global communications system, operating over a common access infrastructure, namely the "Beyond the 3rd Generation (B3G) wireless access infrastructure". The goal of this vision is the ubiquitous delivery of a great variety of innovative services, via a multitude of Radio Access Technologies (RATs). To achieve this, it is mandatory to identify and embrace the requirements for support of heterogeneity in wireless technologies. Framed within such context is the efficient management of each distinct RAT's resources (e.g. spectrum, codes, power levels etc) within the heterogeneous environment. Accordingly, this paper considers the Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) as one of the most common operating RATs in B3G environments, and focuses on the efficient management of the total spectrum assigned to UMTS Network Providers (NPs). Specifically, the method proposed herewith, called Demand Allocation into Multiple UMTS Carriers (DAMUC), aims at finding the optimum partitioning of the demand to the multiple available, wideband UMTS carrier frequencies owned by a single NP. The method investigates certain demand allocation policies and selects the most appropriate one in terms of minimizing the total downlink power consumption in the network. Validation and consolidation can be ensured through indicative results from the application of DAMUC to a simulated network.