Computationally effective TDMA scheduling algorithm for delay-sensitive multi-hop wireless networks

We introduce a practical and computationally effective TDMA scheduling algorithm for assigning multiple slots to a user in a delay and jitter efficient manner. The algorithm is able to adapt to multi-hop mobile wireless networks in which the bandwidth demands of individual nodes are constantly changing due to supporting a wide variety of applications and the obligation to route such mixed-class traffic from the other nodes. We perform comparative simulations against optimally and randomly assigning algorithms and show the performance in terms of scheduling jitter, delay and queue length. It is shown that the proposed algorithm is able to approach the optimal performance when enough slots are selected. Furthermore, the algorithm is feasible due to its low-complexity even when the frame size is large. This enables QoS-demanding real-time voice and other delay-sensitive services in practical mobile ad hoc networks typically used for emergency and other public safety operations as well as military operations.