Congestion Detection for QoS-enabled Wireless Networks and its Potential Applications

We propose a mechanism for monitoring load in quality of service (QoS)-enabled wireless networks and show how it can be used for network management as well as for dynamic pricing. Mobile network traffic, especially video, has grown exponentially over the last few years and it is anticipated that this trend will continue into the future. Driving factors include the availability of new affordable, smart devices, such as smart-phones and tablets, together with the expectation of high quality user experience for video as one would obtain at home. Although new technologies such as long term evolution (LTE) are expected to help satisfy this demand, the fact is that several other mechanisms will be needed to manage overload and congestion in the network. Therefore, the efficient management of the expected huge data traffic demands is critical if operators are to maintain acceptable service quality while making a profit. In the current work, we address this issue by first investigating how the network load can be accurately monitored and then we show how this load metric can then be used to provide creative pricing plans. In addition, we describe its applications to features like traffic offloading and user satisfaction tracking.