Optimal Link Scheduling for Throughput Maximization in Multi-Connectivity mm-Wave Cellular Networks

Network densification and multi-connectivity are emerging as promising solutions to provide reliable and seamless communications at the millimeter-wave frequency range. Due to the obstacles that cause frequent interruptions at such high frequency, connectivity to multiple cells can drastically increase the network performance in terms of throughput and reliability by coordination among the network elements. Thus, here we consider a centralized architecture and we propose an algorithm to solve a link scheduling problem for multi-connectivity in mm-wave cellular networks that maximizes the total network throughput. The considered link scheduling algorithm exploits proactive context preparation, data forwarding and fast link switching between millimeter-wave access points and the users, and reaches performance that are very close to the global optimum.