On the use of packet scheduling in self-optimization processes: Application to coverage-capacity optimization

Self-organizing networks (SON) is commonly seen as a way to increase network performance while simplifying its management. This paper investigates Packet Scheduling (PS) in the context of self-optimizing networks, and demonstrates how to dynamically improve coverage by adjusting the scheduling strategy. We focus on α-fair schedulers, and we provide methods for calculating the scheduling gain, including several closed form formulas. We then propose a coverage-capacity self-optimization scheme based on α-fair schedulers. The method uses Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) to calculate the optimal α in both simple and efficient manner. A simple use case illustrates the implementation of the SON feature and simulation results show the important coverage gains that can be achieved at the expense of very little computing power.