An efficient scheduling algorithm for packet cellular networks

Scheduling algorithms are crucial components for providing quality of service (QoS) guarantees in broad-band wireless networks. However, bursty channel errors and location-dependent channel capacity and errors are unique factors in wireless networks that need to be taken into consideration when applying wireline scheduling algorithms to the wireless domain. In this paper, a new scheduling algorithm for packet cellular networks, Wireless Deficit Round Robin (WDRR), is proposed. WDRR is a round robin scheduler that has low implementation complexity and stems its efficiency from its low delay bound, tight fairness index, and almost perfect isolation property. In error-prone channels, the algorithm provides short-term fairness among sessions that perceive a clean channel, long-term fairness among all sessions, ability to meet specified throughput objectives for all sessions, and graceful service degradation among sessions that received excess service. Both analysis and simulation are used to verify the WDRR properties.