Minimum Length Scheduling in Single-Hop Multiple Access Wireless Networks

We address the minimum length scheduling problem in wireless networks, where each transmitter has a finite amount of data to deliver to a common receiver node (e.g., base station). In contrast with previous works that model wireless channels according to the Protocol or Physical model of interference, this paper studies the scheduling problem in multiple access (multi-access) networks. In this kind of network, the receiver node can decode multiple transmissions simultaneously if the transmission rates of concurrent transmitters lie inside the capacity region of the receiver node. We propose a linear programming model that minimizes the schedule length. The model incorporates the capacity region of multiple access channels into scheduling decisions, such that the sum of the transmission rates of simultaneous transmitters is maximized. Because of the high-complexity of the model, we also present a heuristic algorithm, whose performance is extensively evaluated and compared with the optimal solutions.