mca 16(7): e4

Research Article

Load Balancing Techniques for Dynamic Gateway Selection in LTEWireless Networks

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  • @ARTICLE{10.4108/eai.20-6-2016.151518,
        author={Sakshi Patni and Aditya Hegde and Krishna M. Sivalingam},
        title={Load Balancing Techniques for Dynamic Gateway Selection in LTEWireless Networks},
        journal={EAI Endorsed Transactions on Mobile Communications and Applications},
        volume={2},
        number={7},
        publisher={EAI},
        journal_a={MCA},
        year={2016},
        month={6},
        keywords={LTE networks, Packet Gateway Selection, Mobility Management Entity, Load Balancing},
        doi={10.4108/eai.20-6-2016.151518}
    }
    
  • Sakshi Patni
    Aditya Hegde
    Krishna M. Sivalingam
    Year: 2016
    Load Balancing Techniques for Dynamic Gateway Selection in LTEWireless Networks
    MCA
    EAI
    DOI: 10.4108/eai.20-6-2016.151518
Sakshi Patni1, Aditya Hegde1, Krishna M. Sivalingam1,*
  • 1: Dept. of CSE, Indian Institute of Technology Madras, Chennai 600036, INDIA India-UK Advanced Technology Centre of Excellence in Next Generation Networks, Systems and Services (IU-ATC), Chennai, INDIA
*Contact email: krishna.sivalingam@gmail.com

Abstract

In this paper, we consider a Long Term Evolution (LTE) network. The user equipment (UE) nodes connect to the Internet through packet gateway nodes. Multiple P-GWs in the LTE core network forward these packets. Thus, based on how the sessions are established, different gateways may handle different levels of network traffic. If proper load balancing algorithms are not used, the load on some gateways may be higher than others leading to Quality of Service (QoS) degradation. We propose six different heuristics for load balancing, including one based on entropy called EBA. The entropy function provides an accurate measure of the difference in the load on the gateways. The performance studies show that the EBA algorithm provides good performance improvement for networks consisting of 1,00,000 users, 12 APNs and 50 P-GWs.