Resumen
A method for supporting admission control and/or path selection in a communication network, said network including a plurality of wireless communication links, possibly of different link technologies, established between a plurality of network nodes, characterized in the steps of partitioning said communication links of said network into groups of communication links - link groups -, assigning each link group an associated link group controller that is configured to observe and/or measure the performance and/or quality of said link- group, based on said observations and/or measurements, computing estimates of metrics for the capacity of the respective link group and the costs for using each of the communication links of the respective link group, and transmitting said estimates to at least one resource management entity being configured to take admission control and/or path selection decisions on the basis of said estimates. Furthermore, a communication network with admission control and/or path selection supporting functionality is described.
Reivindicaciones
1. Method for supporting admission control and/or path selection for a communication network, said network including a plurality of wireless communication links, possibly of different link technologies, established between a plurality of network nodes, comprising the steps of partitioning said communication links of said network into groups of communication links - link groups - such that each communication link belongs to exactly one of said link groups and that interference between communication links of different link groups is negligible for the purpose of resource management, assigning each link group an associated link group controller that is configured to observe and/or measure the performance and/or quality of said link group, based on said observations and/or measurements, computing estimates of metrics for the capacity of the respective link group and the costs for using each of the communication links of the respective link group, and transmitting said estimates to at least one resource management entity being configured to take admission control and/or path selection decisions on the basis of said estimates. 2. Method according to claim 1, wherein said link groups are configured in such a way that communication links in each link group share the capacity of at least one common communication resource. 3. Method according to claim 1 or 2, wherein said link groups are configured in such a way that the dependency of communication links from different link groups is below a predefined threshold. 4. Method according to any of claims 1 to 3, wherein each of said communication links is modeled as unidirectional point-to-point communication link. 5. Method according to any of claims 1 to 4, wherein said link group controllers assign their associated link group an effective capacity that reflects the link group' s net capacity discounting for the respective protocol-related overheads, wherein said effective capacity of a link group, in particular in case of uncoordinated medium access, may be calculated by applying maximization and linearization techniques. 6. Method according to any of claims 1 to 5, wherein said link group controllers assign each link of their associated link group a link cost that reflects the capacity consumption required to transmit over the respective link. 7. Method according to any of claims 1 to 6, wherein said link cost takes into consideration the related signal transmission efficiency of the respective link. 8. Method according to any of claims 1 to 7, wherein said link cost takes into consideration the related operation cost and/or the power consumption and/or the interference for transmitting over the respective link. 9. Method according to any of claims 1 to 8, wherein said link cost takes into consideration the related operation cost for transmitting over the respective link. 10. Method according to any of claims 1 to 9, wherein said estimates of metrics for the capacity of a link group and the costs for using each of the communication links of the respective link group are computed in a conservative fashion as longer-term expected values. 11. Method according to any of claims 1 to 10, wherein said estimates of metrics for the capacity of a link group and the costs for using each of the communication links of the respective link group are computed separately for different service classes. 12. Method according to any of claims 1 to 11, wherein said capacity of a link group and the costs for using each of the communication links of the respective link group are related to a specific communication resource, in particular bandwidth resources or energy resources. 13. Method according to any of claims 1 to 12, wherein said estimates of metrics for the capacity of a link group and the costs for using each of the communication links of the respective link group are transmitted from said link group controllers to said at least one resource management entity on demand only. 14. Method according to any of claims 1 to 13, wherein said at least one resource management entity, on the basis of the information received from said link group controllers, performs in advance tests of admission control and/or path selection decisions. 15. Communication network with admission control and/or path selection supporting functionality, in particular for carrying out a method according to any of claims 1 to 14, said network including a plurality of wireless communication links, possibly of different link technologies, established between a plurality of network nodes, wherein said communication links of said network are partitioned into groups of communication links - link groups - such that each communication link belongs to exactly one of said link groups and that interference between communication links of different link groups is negligible for the purpose of resource management, wherein each link group is assigned an associated link group controller that is configured to observe and/or measure the performance and/or quality of said link group, and that is further configured to compute, based on said observations and/or measurements, estimates of metrics for the capacity of the respective link group and the costs for using each of the communication links of the respective link group, and wherein said communication network further includes at least one resource management entity being configured to take admission control and/or path selection decisions on the basis of said estimates.
