Parallel TDMA Scheduling for Multiple-Destination Wireless Networks

We study transmission strategies in a multiple-source, multiple-destination wireless network. Each source transmits packets that are intended for a particular destination. However, a transmitted packet can cause interference at other destinations. Our primary performance measure is throughput, which we define to be the average number of packets that are successfully received per intended destination per time slot. The sources are first divided into groups, based on the intended destination of their packets. In our parallel method, each group operates according to its own local protocol (e.g., TDMA), concurrently with and independently of the other groups. Our results show the impact of transmission schedules, channel fading, receiver noise, and other-user interference on network performance. We then show that, for given channel statistics and topology configurations, the network performance can be significantly improved when the groups in the network coordinate their transmissions according to an optimal schedule. Further, in many cases, even the use of randomly generated parallel schedules can provide considerably higher performance than traditional TDMA.