Theory of maximum packing and related channel assignment strategies for cellular radio networks

Abstract. The maximum packing (MP) policy for dynamic channel assignment in cellular radio communication systems specifies that a new call attempt is admitted whenever there is some way of rearranging channels so that every call can be carried. Otherwise the call is blocked and removed from the system. We investigate the state space of MP and show that its description is in general more complicated than assumed to date. Furthermore, we prove that MP performs better than any fixed channel allocation and any hybrid policy under light traffic conditions.