Scheduling in multimedia CDMA wireless networks

Wireless systems in the future will have to provide multimedia services where different users have different physical-layer quality of service (QoS) requirements [e.g., bit energy per interference power density (E-b/N-o) or bit error rate and power constraints] and network-layer QoS requirements (e.g., delay bound, delay-jitter, throughput, and loss). We investigate the use of power control, processing gain and/or multiple codes, and scheduling in CDMA systems to accommodate these diverse service requirements. We first show that the instantaneous capacity region, given in terms of the set of user bit rates that can be supported simultaneously subject to peak power and E-b/N-o. constraints, is nonconvex. This suggests that by time-sharing the channel, one may be able to get better system throughput. We define the capacity region as the convex hull of the instantaneous capacity region and we show that it may be obtained by time sharing between operating points, where each user either uses full power or is silent (bang-bang control). We then consider the problem of scheduling so as to meet prespecified delay bounds or minimum service curve requirements for traflic streams, which are specified in terms of a traffic profile such as a sigma-rho constraint (enforced by a leaky bucket) and a guarantee that the system is stable.