Adaptive Scheduling for Downlink OFDMA in IEEE 802.11ax

Abstract:
One of the defining features of the IEEE 802.11ax standard is its support for Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access (OFDMA). OFDMA requires effective scheduling implemented in complex network deployments. In addition, the scheduling should be flexible to different network conditions. In this work, we focus on downlink OFDMA in 802.11ax networks. We provide a model for the downlink Resource Units (RUs) scheduling problem that considers variable RU sizes. Then, we propose an algorithm based on the proposed model to solve the downlink scheduling problem. Finally, we evaluate the proposed algorithm through ns-3 simulations. The proposed solution is able to increase the throughput by up to 25% and reduce the latency by up to 10% by dynamically adjusting the RU size assigned to stations.