Priority-based fair scheduling for multimedia WiMAX uplink traffic

Worldwide interoperability for microwave access (WiMAX) is based on the IEEE 802.16 Standard with mobility support from the 802.16e amendment and it enables convergence of mobile and fixed broadband wireless networks covering metropolitan and rural areas. WiMAX traffic management aims at providing efficient delivery of multimedia applications with a range of QoS requirements. Focussing on the point-to-multipoint mode, we propose a priority-based fair scheduling algorithm for subscriber stations to serve a mixture of uplink traffic from different scheduling services and provide an analytical model for evaluating user-perceived delay performance under this scheduling scheme. The model is supported and validated by a simulation study. We present numerical results to illustrate the effect of traffic load and other design parameters on WiMAX message delay.