Fair scheduling in wireless packet networks

Fair scheduling of delay and rate-sensitive packet flows over a wireless ch annel is not addressed effectively by most contemporary wireline fair-sched uling algorithms because of two unique characteristics of wireless media: 1 ) bursty channel errors and 2) location-dependent channel capacity and erro rs. Besides, in packet cellular networks, the base station typically perfor ms the task of packet scheduling for both downlink and uplink flows in a ce ll; however, a base station has only a limited knowledge of the arrival pro cesses of uplink hows. In this paper, we propose a new model for wireless f air scheduling based on an adaptation of fluid fair queueing (FFQ) to handl e location-dependent error bursts. We describe an ideal wireless fair-sched uling algorithm which provides a packetized implementation of the fluid mod e, while assuming full knowledge of the current channel conditions. For thi s algorithm, we derive the worst-case throughput and delay bounds. Finally, we describe a practical wireless scheduling algorithm which approximates t he ideal algorithm. Through simulations, we show that the algorithm achieve s the desirable properties identified in the wireless FFQ model.