Design and implement delay-aware QoS scheme for 3GPP LTE/LTE-A networks for mixed traffic flow

There is a growing demand for mobile networks to support high Quality of Service (QoS) for multiple applications in critical single all IP-based infrastructures. In addition, satisfying end-users´ Quality of Experience (QoE) is still crucial. For these reasons, the Third-Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) has deployed a QoS framework for Long Term Evolution (LTE) based networks. However, the users´ emerging demand for high-data rate and bandwidth hungry applications make this target more complicated, especially during network congestion. This pushes Mobile Network Operators (MNOs) to think about more-intelligent techniques to manage their wireless network traffic, mainly in the transport layer. In this paper, a new Delay-Aware QoS Scheme (DAQS) for 3GPP LTE-based networks is proposed, implemented and critically evaluated. The proposed scheme uses QCI-DSCP (QoS Class Identifier-Differentiated Services Code Point) mapping in the transport layer along with queuing scheduling algorithms in the LTE backhaul network. The proposed scheme takes fairness between applications into account and so provides different levels of priorities. The scheme does not starve any application service; rather it dynamically associates applications to the appropriate priority level. An extensive simulation using OPNET Modeler Wireless Suite 17.5 based on the 3GPP standard specifications for 20MHz, 5MHz and 1.4MHz LTE bandwidths confirms that guaranteeing the QoS and QoE requirements for heterogeneous applications is possible in LTE networks.