Scheduling in a Multi-Sector Wireless Cell

Abstract

In this thesis, we propose a scheduling problem for the downlink of a single cell system with multiple sectors. We formulate an optimization problem based on a generalized round robin scheme that aims at minimizing the cycle length necessary to provide one timeslot to each user, while avoiding harmful interference. Since this problem is under-constrained and might have multiple solutions, we propose a second optimization problem for which we try to find a scheduling that minimizes the cycle length while being as efficient as possible in resource utilization. Both of these problems are large integer programming problems that can be solved numerically using a commercial solver, but for real time use, efficient heuristics need to be developed. We design heuristics for these two problems and validate them by comparing their performances to the optimal solutions.