Performance evaluation of quality of service for joint packet dropping and scheduling

Abstract

Quality of Service is particularly necessary to serve delay-sensitive applications in heavy-loaded wireless networks. In this paper we evaluate a strategy of combining packet dropping and scheduling policies at Medium Access Control layer in guaranteeing maximum packet latency for real-time applications. The purpose of this work is to evaluate how significance the mentioned combination schemes can meet the required latency and also the achievable system throughput. For the case study, a real time Polling Service class in the Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access System for downlink transmission is assumed. The main analysis is undertaken for User Datagram Protocol (UDP) traffic in stationary and mobile user scenarios under heavy load conditions, and the impact of mixed Transmission Control Protocol and UDP traffic is also investigated. Results show that the introduction of a packet dropping policy ensures that the latency is kept well within the required maximum latency requirement, regardless of the types of scheduler used. However, the packet drop percentage (or packet loss) depends strongly on the types of schedulers. All schedulers show similar goodput performance for low load conditions, and the results can only be distinguished for the cases of heavy load/overloaded conditions.