A Low-Complexity Algorithm for Uplink Scheduling in Cooperative Cellular Networks with a Capacity-Constrained Backhaul Infrastructure

Today, it is well understood that interference poses the main capacity limitation and thus challenge for future cellular networks. A promising concept that addresses interference is multi-cell cooperative signal processing, often referred to as Network MIMO. While in recent publications, it is often assumed that the required exchange of information among the base stations can be done with unlimited capacity, current network infrastructures do not necessarily support very high data rates and backhaul has been identified as a major cost driver. For the case of unlimited backhaul availability, it has been shown that large gains can be achieved through intelligent resource assignment (scheduling). In this paper, we introduce a low-complexity algorithm for uplink scheduling in cooperative cellular networks under the assumption of a capacity constrained backhaul with the target of maximizing the tradeoff between backhaul and sum rate.