A cross-layer cost-function based rate adaptation mechanism for the WCDMA system with multi-class services by transport format selection

Summary The growing demand of high speed multi-class data transmissions poses new challenges on wireless networks. The major objectives of the next generation wireless networks include: (1) achieving high data throughput in the fast varying wireless channel; (2) transmitting multi-class data by service multiplexing; and (3) controlling the delay for delay sensitive service. To achieve these goals, in the context of wideband code division multiple access (WCDMA) system, we propose a cost-function based rate adaptation mechanism by taking account of both physical layer channel impacts and higher layer performance parameters, such as buffer occupancy and service priority. We implement this cross-layer rate mechanism by exploiting the transport format (TF) selection procedure in the medium access control (MAC) layer of the WCDMA system. Through the proposed cross-layer cost function, the TF selection procedure can dynamically adapt suitable spreading factors every transmission time interval (TTI), usually 10–80 ms. Through simulations in a flat Rayleigh fading channel, we show that the proposed cross-layer cost-function based rate adaptation mechanism can effectively improve throughput and reduce the buffer occupancy for multi-class services for the WCDMA system at the cost of slightly higher power efficiency. Copyright # 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.