A Proportionally Fair Centralized Scheduler Supporting Spatial Minislot Reuse for IEEE 802.16 Mesh Networks

Mesh and relay networks promise to increase the reach, capacity, and throughput of wireless communication networks. As a prominent example, the reservation-based IEEE 802.16 standard (as the basis for Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access WiMAX) comes with basic protocol mechanisms for an optional mesh mode as well as a relay mode of operation. This paper proposes a proportionally fair scheduler to fully utilize the potential of wireless mesh by exploiting spatial reuse. The scheduler is discussed within the setting of an IEEE 802.16 network operating with centralized scheduling in the mesh mode. We investigate the entire process of (1) bandwidth reservation, (2) calculation of the schedule and the bandwidth allocation, and (3) dissemination and activation of the schedule using an extension to the standard to allow for slot reuse. A performance analysis shows the feasibility of the proposed scheduling scheme and allows for insights into prospective future research areas in IEEE 802.16 networks.