Delay-Based Resource Allocation With Fairness Guarantee and Minimal Loss for eMBB in 5G Heterogeneous Networks

Heterogeneity is defined as one of the core merits in the 5th Generation (5G) mobile systems. Such a trait is prominent in modern 5G traffic scenarios, i.e., enhanced Mobile Broadband (eMBB), where coarse Quality of Service (QoS) profiles need to be satisfied over the shared transmission channel. For that, Radio Resource Management (RRM) became a challenging problem that should be figured out based on the traffic scenario. Extensive efforts dwelled in the literature attempt to solve the resource allocation problem in the downlink channel by maximizing the gain for a certain aspect in the QoS profile. This, however, poses a challenge for 5G-related traffic scenarios such that multi-dimension QoS shall be attainable. Therefore, in this paper, a Delay-aware Resource Allocation for Guaranteed Fairness and minimal Loss (DRAGFL) is proposed to enhance the QoS for Real-Time (RT) services in eMBB 5G Heterogeneous Networks. The ultimate objective of DRAGFL is to maintain a steadily low latency for delay-sensitive flows without restraining the service fairness and the data loss in the overload states. DRAGFL enhances the efficiency of the MAC layer scheduler throughout three phases. Firstly, generating delay-derived weight matrix of the resources blocks to radio bearers from eMBB different classes. Then, greedy-based flows prioritization for Resource Blocks (RBs) assignment. Finally, the data rate of the RT and Non RT (NRT) flows is further emphasized through a channel-aware principle that is invoked conditioning to the remaining radio resources and available data to be scheduled in the interval. The performance evaluation using system-level simulations reveals prominent gains of DRAGFL in sustaining a steadily low end-to-end delay in the high congestion states. Moreover, it maintains ideal states of service fairness with low data loss for different traffic loads to indicate a promising MAC scheduler for the developing scenarios of 5G.