Threshold based WiMax resource reservation

A well designed resource allocation policy is important for network operators, especially in emerging networks with scarce resources such as wireless and mobile networks. Two promising wireless technologies nowadays are Wireless Metropolitan Area Network (WMAN) and Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN). The latter is already largely deployed whereas the former is more recently getting deployed as the wireless broadband access network. For better and cheaper wireless coverage extension, the integration of these two technologies seems to be a very good option. In this paper we introduce a method for resource allocation in the integrated WiFi-WiMax architecture. A mathematical model is proposed where the resource allocation is based on two thresholds corresponding to direct and indirect traffic to the WiMax Base Stations. Indirect traffic is the one coming from WiFi Access Points. The proposed model ensures that neither the direct nor the indirect traffic would suffer from a starvation problem. The results of our analysis show clearly that a well designed resource allocation policy improves the usage of combined WiFi-WiMax network, therefore increasing the number of served users which will raise the operator's profits.