Load balancing between antennas and scheduling to improve throughput of cell edge users

摘要

A method of scheduling resource across a region of available radio spectrum to user equipment in a cell supported by a base station of a wireless communication network, a computer program product and scheduling control unit operable to perform the method. The base station is configured to support communication with user equipment in the cell using a first portion of the region of available radio spectrum using a first antenna or a second portion of the region of available radio spectrum using a second antenna. The method comprises: receiving an indication of signal quality at the user equipment in the first and second portion of the region of available radio spectrum; associating the user equipment with one of the first or second portion of the region of available radio spectrum such that throughput of a worst user associated with the first portion of the region of available radio spectrum is substantially equivalent to throughput of a worst user associated with the second portion of the region of available radio spectrum; and scheduling resource to the user equipment in the first or second portion of the region of available radio spectrum in accordance with the association. Aspects and embodiments may provide a load balancing and scheduling technique suited, for example, to eNodeBs implementing a horizontal and vertical antenna offset configuration. The load balancing method, which is targeted at balancing load between antennas considered by user equipment to support a single sector, can operate to try to maximize cell edge performance. The scheduling technique can realize a derived load balancing decision and ensure that users are scheduled in an appropriate antenna. The scheduling technique described is compatible with both round robin and proportional fair scheduling policies.