Joint MS-GSC combining and down-link multiuser diversity scheduling

Exploiting multi-user diversity is one solution to efficiently use the wireless medium. The basic principle is to assign the resources to the user experiencing the best channel conditions based on a feedback information provided by different users. In this paper, we propose three multiuser scheduling schemes which are combinations between the switch and examine transmission scheme in the network layer and the joint minimum-selection generalized selection combining and adaptive modulation in the physical layer. As a first step, fairness of access is not taken into account in the design of the proposed scheduling schemes. Then, in a second step, the proposed schemes are modified in order to enable them to achieve a certain short term fairness of access. In both cases, we study the performance of the proposed schemes in terms of spectral efficiency, feedback load and rate, and average number of combined and estimated paths. Using some selected numerical examples, the proposed schemes are compared among themselves and also to some recently published schemes.