A Multi-Criteria Approach for Multicast Resource Allocation over LTE and Beyond Cellular Systems

The fast growing of multimedia applications and enhanced device (i.e., in capacity and computing) leads the network infrastructure to manage a number of users with different channel qualities, application requirements, and service constraints. In such a scenario, is evident the need to find a resource scheduling procedure able to guarantee good levels of performance not only on the network-side but also to the user side. To this end, this paper introduces a novel approach for multicast resource allocation based on the idea of exploiting a multi-criteria decision method (i.e., namely TOPSIS) properly designed to simultaneously take into account both provider and user benefits during the spectrum allocation process. In particular, we compared a promising multicast radio resource strategy, i.e., subgrouping, tailored to exploit different cost functions represented by (i) local throughput, (ii) local fairness, and (iii) subgroup minimum dissatisfaction index. The obtained results, performed for the delivery of scalable multicast video flows in a Long Term Evolution (LTE) macrocell, demonstrate the effectiveness of the TOPSIS-based radio resource management scheme, which outperforms existing approaches from the literature. Indeed, it succeeds to provide higher data rate and an improved user satisfaction when considering multicast users experiencing different levels of channel and service quality.