Data broadcast on a multi-system heterogeneous overlayed wireless network

Abstract

A multi-system heterogeneous overlayed wireless network with multiple wireless access technologies is deemed a key part of 4G networks. In addition, data broadcast is a promising technique to improve the bandwidth utilization and to conserve the power consumption in a mobile computing environment. However, most of the prior studies in data broadcast only deal with issues in a single-system wireless network (i.e., in a network with one or multiple broadcast channel(s)), and therefore, these prior approaches cannot be directly used in a multi-system heterogeneous overlayed wireless network. In view of this, we propose in this paper a two-phase algorithm, named algorithm Layered-Cutting, to address the problem of broadcast program generation in a multi-system heterogeneous overlayed wireless network. Specifically, in inter-network data allocation phase, algorithm Layered-Cutting allocates a set of data items to each subnetwork. Then, in intra-network data allocation phase, algorithm Layered-Cutting generates one broadcast program for each subnetwork according to the number of channels in the subnetwork and the properties (including data access probabilities and object sizes) of the data items allocated to the subnetwork. To evaluate the performance of algorithm Layered-Cutting, several experiments are conducted. The experimental results show that algorithm Layered-Cutting is able to efficiently generate broadcast programs of high quality for a multi-system heterogeneous overlayed wireless network.