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Abstract

The number of cellular subscribers world-wide is expected to grow rapidly in the next decade. Since the radio spectrum available for a cellular system is limited, designing an effective channel assignment scheme is of great importance. In this thesis, a new channel assignment scheme, distributed MAXMIN with interference information (DMAXMIN_WI), is proposed. The new scheme is developed from the centralized MAXMIN scheme. By sharing interference information with neighboring cells, the host cell (the cell in which a channel needs to be assigned) performs a channel assignment which attempts to minimize the effect on other co-channel users. The performance of DMAXMIN_WI is compared with those of existing channel assignment schemes using computer simulation. Intra-cell reassignments are carried out in order to reduce the call dropping probability. Results show that DMAXMIN_WI has the best overall performance and requires few intra-cell reassignments. The effectiveness of a performance analysis technique, the Snapshot Analysis, and its relationship to traditional analysis are studied. A new approach to performance analysis, the Slot Viewpoint Analysis, is proposed. This new approach is used to show that Snapshot Analysis cannot replace traditional analysis.