Joint Millimeter Wave and Microwave Resources Allocation in Cellular Networks with Dual-Mode Base Stations

TL;DR

This paper introduces a dual-mode scheduling framework for cellular networks that optimally allocates resources over microwave and millimeter wave bands, improving user satisfaction and quality of experience.

Contribution

It proposes a novel joint scheduling framework utilizing context information, with algorithms for stable resource allocation over both bands, solving a complex optimization problem efficiently.

Findings

Significantly increases the number of satisfied user applications.

Enhances overall quality-of-experience for users.

Operates in polynomial time, making it practical for real networks.

Abstract

In this paper, a novel dual-mode scheduling framework is proposed that jointly performs user applications (UA) selection and scheduling over microwave ($\mu$W) and millimeter wave (mmW) bands. The proposed scheduling framework utilizes a set of context information, including the channel state information, the delay tolerance and required load per UA, and the uncertainty of mmW channels, to maximize the quality-of-service (QoS) per UA. The scheduling problem is formulated as an optimization with minimum unsatisfied relations (min-UR) problem which is shown to be challenging to solve. Consequently, a long-term scheduling framework, consisting of two stages, is proposed. Within this framework, first, the scheduling over $\mu$W band is formulated as a matching game and to solve this problem, a novel algorithm is proposed and shown to yield a two-sided stable resource allocation. Second, over the mmW band, the scheduling problem is formulated as a 0-1 Knapsack problem and a novel algorithm is proposed to solve it. Furthermore, it is shown that the proposed framework can find an effective scheduling solution, over both $\mu$W and mmW, in polynomial time. Simulation results show that, compared with conventional scheduling schemes, the proposed approach significantly increases the number of satisfied UAs and enhances the users' quality-of-experience.