Scheduling in IEEE 802.16e Mobile WiMAX Networks: Key Issues and a Survey

Interest in broadband wireless access (BWA) has been growing due to increased user mobility and the need for data access at all times. IEEE 802.16e based WiMAX networks promise the best available quality of experience for mobile data service users. Unlike wireless LANs, WiMAX networks incorporate several quality of service (QoS) mechanisms at the Media Access Control (MAC) level for guaranteed services for data, voice and video. The problem of assuring QoS is basically that of how to allocate available resources among users in order to meet the QoS criteria such as delay, delay jitter and throughput requirements. IEEE standard does not include a standard scheduling mechanism and leaves it for implementer differentiation. Scheduling is, therefore, of special interest to all WiMAX equipment makers and service providers. This paper discusses the key issues and design factors to be considered for scheduler designers. In addition, we present an extensive survey of recent scheduling research. We classify the proposed mechanisms based on the use of channel conditions. The goals of scheduling are to achieve the optimal usage of resources, to assure the QoS guarantees, to maximize goodput and to minimize power consumption while ensuring feasible algorithm complexity and system scalability.