Downlink scheduling in CDMA data networks

We identify properties of optimal scheduling schemes for downlink traffic in a code division multiple access (CDMA) data-only network. Under idealised assumptions, we show that it is optimal for each base station to transmit to at most one delay-tolerant user at a time. Moreover we prove that a base station, when on, should transmit at maximum power for optimality. For a linear network, we characterise the optimal schedule as the solution to a linear program. As a by-product, our analysis yields bounds on throughput gains obtainable from downlink scheduling.