Optimal scheduling of real-time traffic in wireless networks with delayed feedback

Abstract

In this paper we consider a wireless network composed of a base station and a number of clients, with the goal of scheduling real-time traffic. Even though this problem has been extensively studied in the literature, the impact of delayed acknowledgment has not been assessed. Delayed feedback is of increasing importance in systems where the round trip delay is much greater than the packet transmission time, and it has a significant effect on the scheduling decisions and network performance. Previous work considered the problem of scheduling real-time traffic with instantaneous feedback and without feedback. In this work, we address the general case of delayed feedback and use Dynamic Programming to characterize the optimal scheduling policy. An optimal algorithm that fulfills any feasible minimum delivery ratio requirements is proposed. Moreover, we develop a low-complexity suboptimal heuristic algorithm which is suitable for platforms with low computational power. Both algorithms are evaluated through simulations.