Analysis of Throughput and Fairness of WCDMA Networks with Downlink Scheduling

In this paper we develop a theoretical framework which enables us to analyze the throughput and fairness performance of various downlink scheduling schemes in WCDMA networks. For theoretical analysis, the following scheduling schemes are considered: (i) the round robin scheme, (ii) the maximum carrier-to-interference ratio (C/I) scheme and (iii) the proportional fair scheme. By deriving a close approximation to the probability density function of C/I, new, exact throughput and fairness expressions are formulated for the above scheduling schemes, by which a rigorous quantitative comparison among them can be performed. The results verify that throughput and fairness performance of each scheduling scheme depends largely on mobile users´ location in the active cell. In general, the round robin scheme has the worst throughput performance among them, while the proportional fair scheme provides a better trade-off between throughput and fairness