Balancing Between Power Optimization and Iub Efficiency in MBMS Enabled UMTS Networks

Multicast transmission is one of the major goals for Universal Mobile Telecommunication System (UMTS) that motivated the 3 Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) to launch the Multimedia Broadcast/Multicast Service (MBMS) framework. MBMS constitutes a significant step towards the so-called Mobile Broadband, since it allows the efficient utilization of network and radio resources. One of most important problems that MBMS is currently facing is the assignment of the appropriate transport channel for the transmission of MBMS data. This paper proposes an alternative solution to this problem, by introducing a cost-based scheme for the efficient radio bearer selection that minimizes the overall delivery cost. Our approach, calculates the telecommunication cost over the most crucial interfaces of UMTS; and based on this cost selects the appropriate radio bearer.