Online Optimization of Data Transmission Policies for Wireless Networks

In wireless communication networks, power control is necessary to maintain desired link quality, minimize interference and prolong battery lifetime of mobile terminals. In this technical note we describe the wireless channel of a wireless network as a finite state Markov chain and study packet transmission strategies for data services. Under the Markov channel assumption, we prove the optimal strategy is of threshold structure: corresponding to each channel state there exists a positive threshold on queue length; once the queue length exceeds the threshold, the network should transmit packets over its available capacity; otherwise there should be no transmission. A single sample path-based optimization algorithm is proposed to tune the thresholds. Since only a single sample path is involved, the proposed algorithm can be implemented online.