PERFORMANCE OF A CELLULAR DIGITAL PACKET DATA  NETWORK

Project Personnel

Michael Honig, NU
Jeff Pinegar, Ameritech
Amy Csizmar, NU

Abstract

The purpose of this project is to study, via computer simulation, the performance of a Cellular Digital Packet Data (CDPD) network under varying traffic loads and channel constraints. The network consists of both cellular voice and cellular data users accessing a predefined subset of base stations within a geographical area. Each user pool is generated randomly via a Poisson process with a unique generation rate for each user type. System performance is studied for both the dedicated channel and the channel hopping cases. For both scenarios, statistics on the percentages of calls blocked from accessing the system and dropped from the system after establishing a call are reported. These statistics are used to estimate the network's blocking probability and outage probability seen by voice traffic, and the collision rate seen by data traffic. This particular model concentrates on the actions between the user and the base station in acquiring a channel, setting up a call, monitoring the status of the channel during the call, and the completion of the call, either at the expected time or prematurely due to the loss of access to a channel.

Background Information

This research project grew out of a summer internship project conducted at Ameritech in 1995. Both the Ameritech project and the research project involve the development and implementation of a computer model of the CDPD network using BONeS software. BONeS is a software package distributed by the Alta Group.

Current Project Status

The project has been completed as of May 13, 1997. A copy of the final project report (gzipped Postscript, about 172 kB) is available. (Note: this file is in Postscript format. If you do not have a postscript viewer or a postscript compatible printer, you may obtain a viewer at this site.)