| Abstract: | This paper investigates the channel assignment problem of dual‐band PCS systems where single‐band and dual‐band handsets co‐exist. Load‐balancing channel assignment schemes are proposed to improve the system performance. To balance the loads of both bands, the BSC selects a band to serve a call request of a dual‐band handset based on the loads of both bands. In addition, a channel re‐assignment scheme is used to further improve the system capacity. Analytic models and computer simulations have been developed to evaluate the performance of the load‐balancing schemes. The results indicate that both load‐balancing and channel re‐assignment techniques significantly increase the system capacity as the percentage of dual‐band handsets increases. Furthermore, the load‐balancing with channel re‐assignment scheme that combines both techniques achieves the best system performance even when the percentage of dual‐band handset is as low as 25%. In addition, we describe an approach to reduce the signal overhead of the load‐balancing schemes. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. |
