Providing performance guarantees is one of the critical objectives of recent and future communication networks, toward which regulations, i.e., constraints on key system parameters, have played an indispensable role. This is the case for large wireless communication networks, where spatial regulations (e.g., constraints on intercell distance) have recently been shown, through a spatial network calculus, to be essential for establishing provable wireless link-level guarantees. In this work, we focus on performance guarantees for the downlink of cellular networks where we impose a hardcore (spatial) regulation on base station (BS) locations and evaluate how BS scheduling (which controls which BSs can transmit at a given time) impacts performance. Hardcore regulation is the simplest form of spatial regulation that enforces a minimal distance between any pair of transmitters in the network. Within this framework of spatial network calculus, we first provide an upper bound on the power of total interference for a spatially regulated cellular network, and then, identify the regimes where scheduling BSs yields better link-level rate guarantees compared to scenarios where base stations are always active. The hexagonal cellular network is analyzed as a special case. The results offer insights into what spatial regulations are needed, when to choose scheduling, and how to potentially reduce the network power consumption to provide a certain target performance guarantee.

翻译：提供性能保障是近期及未来通信网络的关键目标之一，而调控——即对关键系统参数施加约束——在此过程中发挥着不可或缺的作用。大规模无线通信网络便是如此：通过空间网络演算，空间调控（例如对小区间距离的约束）已被证明对于建立可证明的无线链路级保障至关重要。本研究聚焦于蜂窝网络下行链路的性能保障，我们在基站位置施加硬核（空间）调控，并评估基站调度（控制哪些基站在给定时刻可进行传输）对性能的影响。硬核调控是最简单的空间调控形式，它强制要求网络中任意一对发射机之间保持最小距离。在此空间网络演算框架内，我们首先为空间调控蜂窝网络的总干扰功率提供了一个上界，进而识别出在哪些机制下，相比基站始终活跃的场景，调度基站能带来更优的链路级速率保障。我们以六边形蜂窝网络作为特例进行了分析。研究结果为需要何种空间调控、何时选择调度以及如何潜在地降低网络功耗以提供特定目标性能保障提供了见解。