A Spectral-Based Analysis of Priority Channel Assignment Schemes in Mobile Cellular Communication Systems*

In this paper we consider a queueing system with two arrival streams with application to mobile cellular communications systems is considered in this paper. Stream 1 is considered to require a higher priority to access the server than stream 2. On the other hand, while stream 2 is handled following a delay model, stream 1 has stringent constraints with regard to the waiting time, and thus it is treated according to a loss model. We model a number of schemes that give priority to stream 1. The analysis of the model is carried out by applying the generating function method combined with spectral expansion tools. We compare the numerical cost and the stability of this method whit those of the more widely used matrixgeometric approach. Although the spectral approach is in general better in terms of numerical performance, we evaluate though numerical examples under which circumstances of load, system size and type of priority scheme, the gain is significant.