On the performance of inter-sector scheduling in OFDMA systems

This paper presents an extension for adaptive transmission of a multi-user scheduling algorithm to a cellular environment. In an effort to manage inter-cell interference, scheduling between neighboring base stations is coordinated. To this end, the amount of buffered data at each base station is exchanged within a small group of base stations. More precisely, the sectors that illuminate each cell form inter-sector scheduling groups. We divide the scheduling into two separate operations, inter and intra-sector scheduling, that are performed separately. From a comparison against a scheme with a static frequency reuse of three we observe a 20-40% reduction in average packet delays, depending on the system load.