Low-complexity uplink scheduling algorithms with power control in successive interference cancellation based wireless mud-logging systems

Wireless mud-logging systems have been employed in petroleum exploration to guarantee efficiency and safety in well-drilling. For the wireless networks in well-drillings, the tradeoff between throughput and fairness has great relation to the type of wells. The throughput is of the most importance to deep wells, while fairness is of primary concern for shallow wells. In this study, this challenge is addressed by using 2-SIC (successive interference cancellation) techniques. The throughput maximization and the fairness maximization problems are further formulated based on an imperfect 2-SIC model, which differentiates our work from existing ones. In view of the hardness of these problems, a low-complexity approximation algorithm for maximizing throughput and a low-complexity heuristic algorithm for maximizing fairness are proposed. To evaluate the proposed schemes, extensive simulations are performed. According to simulation results, the throughput performance could be improved by 23% using our approximation algorithm of throughput maximization, while the Jain’s fairness index could reach 0.975 using our algorithm of fairness optimization.