Principles for Channel Allocation in GSM

Abstract: In today's GSM system there is a complex resource situation when it comes to the scarce TDMA channels in the air interface, the time slots. There are both voice call services that use one or a half time slot and there are packet data users, that may share time slots with other packet data users, and they can use multiple channels at the same time. Allocating time to users is a crucial part in the system and it may affect the performance for the end user substantially. In the future there may be more types of services than just voice and packet data and that these services may have specific demands on their channels, time slots. That means they would not be able to use just any of the available channels. The way to "give" services channels is what is called channel allocation. In this thesis four different services and three different principles for channel allocation is implemented in a Matlab simulator and simulated. The thesis goal is to determine which principle is best for which mix of services. The principles that have been investigated are Flexible Algorithm that lets all services use all channels, Fix Dedication Algorithm where all channels are dedicated to a service and only can be used by that one and finally Soft Dedication Algorithm where all channels are dedicated to a service but may be used by other services when it is not needed by the preferred one. The conclusion is, simplified, that the Soft Dedication Algorithm generates low blocking rates, high bandwidth and that it is a quite robust principle although the borrowing user may be preempted. It may not always be the best one but over all it is the one to prefer.