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In this paper, we present an opportunistic packet scheduling algorithm based on buffer management (OSBM) over the downlink of a packet cellular network. OSBM is a channel-dependent scheduling algorithm with a provable delay bound. It is able to provide differentiated services to both real-time and nonreal-time applications. Particularly, these features of OSBM are achieved through a novel buffer management scheme. Since this buffer management scheme does not involve any complex online computation, OSBM is very efficient and easy to implement in an operational environment. We also present a new analytical approach for performance analysis of opportunistic scheduling in wireless networks based on the proposed concept of effective downlink capacity (EDC). This approach attempts to adapt the service curve tool for deterministic quality-of-service analysis to the wireless environment, and the concept of the EDC serves to bridge the deterministic method and the stochastic nature of the wireless link. Using this approach, the explicit expression of the delay bound of the OSBM algorithm is obtained. Simulation results are presented to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed opportunistic scheduling algorithm. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With a small amount of software modification, wireless extension points (EPs), which are now commercially available, can be used to improve the throughput capacity of a wireless local area network (WLAN). An EP is an immobile device that has access to the power supply or is equipped with a high-capacity battery but does not have direct access to the Internet. They wirelessly relay data between the access point and the mobile hosts. In this paper, we investigate the optimal placement of the EPs such that the throughput capacity of an urban rectilineal WLAN can be maximized. Two channel models that are based on the Shannon capacity bound and IEEE 802.11 specifications are studied. We first formulate a solution for the optimal EP placement problem in a general network scenario as a nonlinear programming problem; then, we propose an efficient algorithm that determines the optimal locations of a fixed number of EPs in a rectilineal network. Our results show that, for a wide range of system parameters, the optimally placed EPs can significantly increase the network throughput capacity. Moreover, we study how the number of EPs, transmission power, path loss exponent, channel models, and traffic characteristics affect the optimal EP placement and expected throughput capacity of the network. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]