Performance Evaluation of Spectrum Sharing Methods in WiMAX/WiFi Integrated Networks

Abstract

Next generation wireless communication system is influenced by different wireless technologies such as WiFi, WiMAX, Cellular and LTE which use their fixed allocated spectrum. However, lack of spectrum resources becomes an important problem for future wireless network. Hence, for efficient use of spectrum resources, spectrum sharing between the existing wireless technologies receives much attention. However, to share the spectrum more efficiently, an effective spectrum sharing method should be developed. Most of the spectrum sharing methods are based on an optimization algorithm that provides an optimal solution for spectrum sharing. In this paper, the performance of a spectrum sharing method based on Genetic Algorithm (GA) has been evaluated. The method was applied in a WiMAX/WiFi integrated network, where a WiFi system temporarily uses a spectrum band of WiMAX system. Also a Linear Programming (LP) model has been developed as an alternative for spectrum sharing in the same network and comparative analysis between these two methods reveals that both methods give better performance in terms of throughput (bits/sec), download response time (sec) and received traffic rate (bytes/sec). According to the simulation results, it has been found that Genetic Algorithm (GA) shows its effectiveness in spectrum sharing in WiMAX/WiFi integrated network by reaching the global maxima very fast.