QoS-Aware User Scheduling in Crowded XL-MIMO Systems Under Non-Stationary Multi-State LoS/NLoS Channels

Ensuring that the quality-of-service (QoS) requirements are satisfied in wireless communications systems with high user density is challenging due to the limitations on the transmit power budget and the number of resource blocks. In this paper, we propose a QoS-aware joint user scheduling and power allocation technique to enhance the number of served users in the downlink of crowded extra-large scale massive multiple-input multiple-output (XL-MIMO) with minimum QoS requirements guarantee. The proposed technique is constituted by two sequential procedures: the clique search-based scheduling (CBS) algorithm for user scheduling followed by optimal power allocation with transmit power budget and minimum achievable rate per user constraints.We propose a generalized non-stationary multi-state channel model based on spherical wave propagation assuming that users under line-of-sight (LoS) and non-LoS (NLoS) transmission coexist in the same communication cell. This is done to accurately evaluate the proposed technique in realistic XL-MIMO scenarios. Numerical results reveal that the proposed CBS algorithm provides fair coverage over the whole cell area, achieving remarkable numbers of scheduled users with satisfied QoS requirements when users under the LoS and NLoS channel states coexist in the communication cell.