Opportunistic Cross-Layer Uplink Scheduler for the IEEE 802.16 Standard

Scheduling is an essential mechanism in IEEE 802.16 networks for distributing the available bandwidth among the active connections so that their quality of service requirements can be furnished. Scheduling mechanisms adopted in wired networks, when used in wireless networks lead to inefficient use of the bandwidth since the location dependent and time varying characteristics of the wireless link usually are ignored by the wired networks. This paper introduces a standard compliant cross-layer scheduling mechanism which considers the modulation and coding of each mobile station to increase the efficiency of channel utilization while furnishing the QoS requirements of the connections.