Improved Round Robin Scheduling for MIMO Cellular Systems

~Packet scheduling is investigated for the downlink of a multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) cellular system. The conventional round robin scheduling (RRS) scheme does not utilize the benefits of multiuser environments, although it provides fair channel access chance to users. We propose an antenna-assisted round robin scheduling (AA-RRS) scheme to improve the conventional RRS scheme. The AA-RRS scheme provides fair channel access chance to users as the RRS scheme, whereas it increases the system capacity through the effective use of multiple antennas in achieving a diversity effect from multiple users. Computer simulations are conducted to compare the RRS and AA-RRS schemes in terms of the expected and outage capacities. It is shown that the AA-RRS scheme provides significant capacity gain over the RRS scheme, especially in terms of the outage capacity. We also discuss the effects of power control, signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), and spatial correlation on the system capacities.