Energy-Efficient Packet Scheduling with Finite Blocklength Codes: Convexity Analysis and Efficient Algorithms

This paper considers an energy-efficient packet scheduling problem over quasi-static block fading channels. The goal is to minimize the total energy for transmitting a sequence of data packets under the first-in-first-out rule and strict delay constraints. Conventionally, such design problem is studied under the assumption that the packet transmission rate can be characterized by the classical Shannon capacity formula, which, however, may provide inaccurate energy consumption estimation, especially when the code blocklength is finite. In this paper, we formulate a new energy-efficient packet scheduling problem by adopting a recently developed channel capacity formula for finite blocklength codes. The newly formulated problem is fundamentally more challenging to solve than the traditional one because the transmission energy function under the new channel capacity formula neither can be expressed in closed form nor possesses desirable monotonicity and convexity in general. We analyze conditions on the code blocklength for which the transmission energy function is monotonic and convex. Based on these properties, we develop efficient offline packet scheduling algorithms as well as a rolling-window based online algorithm for real-time packet scheduling. Simulation results demonstrate not only the efficacy of the proposed algorithms but also the fact that the traditional design using the Shannon capacity formula can considerably underestimate the transmission energy for reliable communications.