Optimal Multiuser Scheduling Schemes for Simultaneous Wireless Information and Power Transfer

In this paper, we study the downlink multiuser scheduling problem for systems with simultaneous wireless information and power transfer (SWIPT). We design optimal scheduling algorithms that maximize the long-term average system throughput under different fairness requirements, such as proportional fairness and equal throughput fairness. In particular, the algorithm designs are formulated as non-convex optimization problems which take into account the minimum required average sum harvested energy in the system. The problems are solved by using convex optimization techniques and the proposed optimization framework reveals the tradeoff between the long-term average system throughput and the sum harvested energy in multiuser systems with fairness constraints. Simulation results demonstrate that substantial performance gains can be achieved by the proposed optimization framework compared to existing suboptimal scheduling algorithms from the literature.Comment: Accepted for presentation at the European Signal Processing Conference 201

Optimal Scheduling and Power Allocation for Two-Hop Energy Harvesting Communication Systems

Energy harvesting (EH) has recently emerged as a promising technique for green communications. To realize its potential, communication protocols need to be redesigned to combat the randomness of the harvested energy. In this paper, we investigate how to apply relaying to improve the short-term performance of EH communication systems. With an EH source and a non-EH half-duplex relay, we consider two different design objectives: 1) short-term throughput maximization; and 2) transmission completion time minimization. Both problems are joint scheduling and power allocation problems, rendered quite challenging by the half-duplex constraint at the relay. A key finding is that directional water-filling (DWF), which is the optimal power allocation algorithm for the single-hop EH system, can serve as guideline for the design of two-hop communication systems, as it not only determines the value of the optimal performance, but also forms the basis to derive optimal solutions for both design problems. Based on a relaxed energy profile along with the DWF algorithm, we derive key properties of the optimal solutions for both problems and thereafter propose efficient algorithms. Simulation results will show that both scheduling and power allocation optimizations are necessary in two-hop EH communication systems.Comment: Submitted to IEEE Transaction on Wireless Communicatio

OSCAR: A Collaborative Bandwidth Aggregation System

The exponential increase in mobile data demand, coupled with growing user expectation to be connected in all places at all times, have introduced novel challenges for researchers to address. Fortunately, the wide spread deployment of various network technologies and the increased adoption of multi-interface enabled devices have enabled researchers to develop solutions for those challenges. Such solutions aim to exploit available interfaces on such devices in both solitary and collaborative forms. These solutions, however, have faced a steep deployment barrier. In this paper, we present OSCAR, a multi-objective, incentive-based, collaborative, and deployable bandwidth aggregation system. We present the OSCAR architecture that does not introduce any intermediate hardware nor require changes to current applications or legacy servers. The OSCAR architecture is designed to automatically estimate the system's context, dynamically schedule various connections and/or packets to different interfaces, be backwards compatible with the current Internet architecture, and provide the user with incentives for collaboration. We also formulate the OSCAR scheduler as a multi-objective, multi-modal scheduler that maximizes system throughput while minimizing energy consumption or financial cost. We evaluate OSCAR via implementation on Linux, as well as via simulation, and compare our results to the current optimal achievable throughput, cost, and energy consumption. Our evaluation shows that, in the throughput maximization mode, we provide up to 150% enhancement in throughput compared to current operating systems, without any changes to legacy servers. Moreover, this performance gain further increases with the availability of connection resume-supporting, or OSCAR-enabled servers, reaching the maximum achievable upper-bound throughput