PACTA: A Portfolio Theory Based Approach for QoS Aware Resource Allocation in mmWave Networks

An ultra-dense millimetre wave (mmWave) access network operating on IEEE 802.15.3c based simultaneously operated piconet (SOP) architecture offers an effective way to operate high data-rate IoT-networks while overcoming the challenges of beam-blockage and high propagation loss which characterize these systems. The SOP architecture permits coexistence of multiple mmWave piconets by allowing a piconet controller (PNC) to share its channel time with multiple PNCs, using periodically updated private channel time allocations (p-CTAs). However, due to beam blockage, the p-CTA demands within the piconets change dynamically and often cause a mismatch between the demanded and the assigned p-CTAs leading to suboptimal resource allocation and wastage of network resources. To overcome these problems, this letter proposes a QoS aware risk-sensitive approach for p-CTA assignment. It uses multiple QoS parameters as performance metrics and employs the portfolio allocation theory to dynamically determine the optimal p-CTA distribution. By judiciously allocating p-CTAs over a portfolio of SOPs, the proposed approach minimizes the risk of p-CTA mismatch for each piconet and mitigates the wastage of network resources.