Distributed dynamic carrier allocations in mobile cellular networks: search vs. update

There are two approaches to distributed implementation of dynamic carrier allocation (DCA) strategies: the update approach and the search approach. We first investigate the fundamental differences between the two approaches: two simple and representative schemes, namely the basic update scheme and the basic search scheme, are presented and compared. We argue that the update approach is more appropriate than the search approach for mobile cellular networks. Then we propose an advanced update scheme that is more efficient than the basic update scheme in terms of message complexity and carrier acquisition delay. The advanced update scheme can support a group of DCA strategies which require resource planning.