LaSR: A Supple Multi-Connectivity Scheduler for Multi-RAT OFDMA Systems

Abstract

Network densification over space and spectrum is expected to be key to enabling the requirements of next generation mobile systems. The pitfall is that radio resource allocation becomes substantially more complex. In this paper we propose LaSR, a practical multi-connectivity scheduler for OFDMA-based multi-RAT systems. LaSR makes optimal discrete control actions by solving a sequence of simple optimization problems that do not require prior information of traffic patterns. In marked contrast to previous work, the flexibility of our approach allows us to construct scheduling policies that achieve a good balance between system cost and utility satisfaction, while jointly operate across heterogeneous RATs, accommodate real-system requirements, and guarantee system stability. Examples of system requirements considered in this paper include (but are not limited to): constraints on how scheduling data can be encoded onto signaling protocols (e.g. LTE’s DCI), delays when turning on/off radio units, or on/off cycles when using unlicensed spectrum. We evaluate our scheduler via a thorough simulation campaign in a variety of scenarios with e.g. mobile users, RATs using unlicensed spectrum (using a duty cycle access mechanism), imperfect queue state information, and constrained signaling protocol.