Utility-Based Opportunistic Scheduling Under Multi-Connectivity With Limited Backhaul Capacity

Multi-connectivity is a 5G key enabler to fulfill multi-service quality-of-service (QoS) requirements. This letter examines an opportunistic resource allocation problem under multi-connectivity and limited backhaul capacity in evolved LTE using two utility functions: 1) proportional fairness (PF) and 2) utility proportional fairness (UPF). We then propose an efficient algorithm to deal with the formulated NP-hard problem. Such algorithm guarantees to produce a solution with an explicit bound on the optimal solution. Finally, simulation results justify that UPF utility function with opportunistic scheduling in multi-connectivity can better satisfy QoS requirements.