A revenue-maximizing scheme for radio access technology selection in heterogeneous wireless networks with user profile differentiation

Abstract

In this paper, the problem of radio access technology (RAT) selection in heterogeneous wireless networks (HWNs) is tackled from an operator's perspective, with the objective of maximizing the generated revenue. Two user profiles are considered with different priority levels. An integrated 3GPP Long Term Evolution (LTE) and Wireless Fidelity (WiFi) network is considered as an example of HWN, where LTE is used mainly for the high-priority class, while a portion of its resources, defined by a load threshold, can be shared by the low-priority class. A Markovian model is defined and validated by simulation. Subsequently, the value of the load threshold for resource sharing in LTE is investigated, and an optimization problem is formulated to find the optimal threshold for which the revenue is maximized. © 2013 IFIP International Federation for Information Processing.