STDMA-based scheduling algorithm for concurrent transmissions in directional millimeter wave networks

In this paper, a concurrent transmission scheduling algorithm is proposed to enhance the resource utilization efficiency for multi-Gbps millimeter-wave (mmWave) networks. Specifically, we exploit spatial-time division multiple access (STDMA) to improve the system throughput by allowing both non-interfering and interfering links to transmit concurrently, considering the high propagation loss at mmWave band and the utilization of directional antenna. Concurrent transmission scheduling in mmWave networks is formulated as an optimization model to maximize the number of flows scheduled in the network such that the quality of service (QoS) requirement of each flow is satisfied. We further decompose the optimization problem and propose a flip-based heuristic scheduling algorithm with low computational complexity to solve the problem. Extensive simulations demonstrate that the proposed algorithm can significantly improve the network performance in terms of network throughput and the number of supported flows.