Habeebah A. Kakudi and Abubakar A. Mu’azu

Keywords: QoS-Aware, Uplink Scheduling, LTE-A, 5G Networks

Abstract

Long Term Evolution (LTE) aims to revolutionize mobile broadband technology by offering higher data rates, improved power efficiency, low latency, and better Quality of Service (QoS). Its backward compatibility with legacy cellular networks has garnered wide acceptance within the telecommunications industry. LTE delivers high-speed mobile broadband data at a lower cost per bit, reduced latency, and an enhanced customer experience. The primary goal of LTE’s uplink scheduling algorithms is to ensure service fairness across different traffic classes by efficiently allocating bearers over LTE-Advanced (LTE-A) and 5G networks. Scheduling disciplines are crucial for network performance as they manage the fair distribution of network resources. This research focuses on designing and developing an enhanced QoS-aware uplink scheduling algorithm, implementing it in a simulator, and analyzing the results. The proposed user-explicit algorithms (1, 2, & 3) aim to minimize average upload time and maximize average data rate while maintaining QoS during resource allocation. The new model, based on First-In-First-Out (FIFO), Priority Queuing (PQ), and Weighted Fair Queuing (WFQ) scheduling algorithms, was tested in three different scenarios. A simulation model using the Optimize Network Engineering Tool (OPNET) and Microsoft Excel was developed. The results demonstrate that the proposed algorithm significantly enhances LTE-A uplink performance while ensuring Quality of Service.