Scheduling for integrated services in next generation packet broadcast networks

In future wireless packet networks, it is anticipated that a wide variety of applications, ranging from WWW browsing to E-mail service, and real-time services like packetized voice and digital videoconference, will be supported with varying levels of quality of service (QoS). There is a need for packet scheduling schemes that effectively provide QoS guarantees and at the same time are simple to implement. This paper focuses on the scheduling of fixed sized packets or data segments over the downlink of a TDMA/TDD wireless interface. The proposed scheduling mechanism is based on the token bank leaky bucket mechanism, which integrates the policing and servicing functions and keeps track of the potential of each connection. This results in lower packet delay, jitter and violation probability. The performance is evaluated using computer simulations. The performance measures are packet delay, jitter, violation probability, degree of multiplexing, and throughput. The trade-off between these parameters is exploited.