Scheduling problems and solutions in WiMAX networks

WiMAX is developed to support large-scale wireless broadband access. Defined in a series of IEEE 802.16 standards, three architectures of WiMAX networks are proposed to adapt to various environments. The point-to-multipoint architecture is used to manage a small number of devices, where each device is able to directly communicate with the central base station. The relay architecture deploys some special stations to act as intermediary between devices and the base station, where devices can choose whether or not to communicate with the base station through these intermediaries. The mesh architecture is deployed to cover a large area, where all devices/stations are organized in an ad hoc fashion. Different challenges are arisen under different network architectures, leading the WiMAX scheduling problem to attract lots of research focus. In this chapter, we discuss the scheduling problems and their solutions under the three architectures of WiMAX networks, which covers the issues of how to improve network throughput, how to guarantee quality of service, and how to reduce energy consumption of devices. The comparison of these scheduling solutions is also given in the chapter.