Efficient Resource Allocation with Constrained Rate Variability in Cellular Networks

While LTE networks are known to provide relatively high data rates (on the order of tens of Mbps), these rates exhibit high variability with time. This harms the performance of applications and services requiring stable data rates, such as real-time video streaming, online gaming, XR, etc. 5G emerged as a solution to these kinds of problems. However, strict constant data rates come at the cost of underutilized network resources, which leads to inefficient operation of cellular networks. In this paper, we consider the problem of allocating network resources to cellular users in a way that provides as high a data rate as possible to all users while limiting the rate variation within tight bounds with a given small outage probability. First, we consider the case of static allocation irrespective of channel conditions. Then, we look at the case when resources are allocated dynamically over time. We run simulations on a real trace. Results show that allocating the resources dynamically improves performance over static allocation mechanisms by an additional 10%, and that allowing a slightly higher outage in not complying with the guaranteed data rate further increases the user's throughput.