Joint User Scheduling and PRB Mapping Scheme in Satellite LTE Networks

This paper proposes a packet scheduling scheme that comprises a user scheduling and Physical Resource Blocking (PRB) mapping schemes for satellite LTE network with the adoption of MIMO technology. The Satellite Long Term Evolution (S-LTE) access network is able to provide worldwide coverage and hence supplement the terrestrial access network in the provision of mobile services to users in the LTE network. The user scheduling scheme is a vital Radio Resource Management (RRM) function that is needed in order to effectively utilize the available resources of the satellite LTE network. However, a user scheduling scheme without a scheme that will ensure effective mapping of the available PRBs to the selected users will undermine the utilization of the limited resources in a S-LTE network. Hence, the main goal of this paper is to propose a new joint scheme that is designed using cross-layer approach in order to improve the network throughput. This joint scheme will consists of user scheduling and PRB mapping algorithms. The proposed scheme will be compared with existing schemes through simulations, using known performance metrics.