Towards Optimal Distributed Node Scheduling in a Multihop Wireless Network through Local Voting

TL;DR

This paper introduces a distributed scheduling algorithm called Local Voting for multihop wireless networks, which semi-equalizes load to optimize delay and fairness, approaching the performance of centralized solutions.

Contribution

The paper proposes a novel distributed scheduling algorithm that converges to optimal load balancing, improving delay and fairness in multihop wireless networks.

Findings

Local Voting outperforms existing distributed algorithms in delay and fairness.

The algorithm's performance is close to that of an optimal centralized scheduler.

Convergence to optimal load distribution is theoretically proven.

Abstract

In a multihop wireless network, it is crucial but challenging to schedule transmissions in an efficient and fair manner. In this paper, a novel distributed node scheduling algorithm, called Local Voting, is proposed. This algorithm tries to semi-equalize the load (defined as the ratio of the queue length over the number of allocated slots) through slot reallocation based on local information exchange. The algorithm stems from the finding that the shortest delivery time or delay is obtained when the load is semi-equalized throughout the network. In addition, we prove that, with Local Voting, the network system converges asymptotically towards the optimal scheduling. Moreover, through extensive simulations, the performance of Local Voting is further investigated in comparison with several representative scheduling algorithms from the literature. Simulation results show that the proposed algorithm achieves better performance than the other distributed algorithms in terms of average delay, maximum delay, and fairness. Despite being distributed, the performance of Local Voting is also found to be very close to a centralized algorithm that is deemed to have the optimal performance.