A heuristic energy efficient scheduling scheme for VoIP in 3GPP LTE networks

In this paper, first, energy efficiency of well known and principal scheduling schemes, Round Robin (RR), Best Channel Quality Indicator (BCQI), and Proportional Fair (PF) is evaluated. Then, a novel energy efficient scheme in low load traffic conditions is proposed. The proposed scheme trades off bandwidth for energy whenever possible depending on the load of the network. By applying this approach on the principal schedulers, three relevant energy efficient schedulers for Voice over IP (VoIP) traffic, namely, Energy Efficient Round Robin (EERR), Energy Efficient Best Channel Quality Indicator (EE-BCQI), and Energy Efficient Proportional Fair (EEPF) are introduced. The results of performance analysis, which are based on the specifications of the downlink of 3GPP LTE (Long Term Evolution) demonstrate the superior performance of the proposed scheme in terms of energy consumption of the network, while providing required Quality of Service (QoS) for the users.