Optimal Opportunistic Scheduling in Wireless Networks

Scheduling has been extensively studied in various disciplines in operations research and wireline networking. However, the unique characteristics of wireless communication systems – namely, timing-varying channel conditions and multiuser diversity – means that new scheduling solutions need to be developed that are specifically tailored for this environment. In this paper, we summarize various opportunistic scheduling schemes that exploit the time-varying nature of the radio environment to improve the spectrum efficiency while maintaining a certain level of satisfaction for each user. We also discuss the advantages and costs associated with opportunistic scheduling, and identify possible future research directions.