Long-Horizon Wireless Link Scheduling with State-Augmented Graph Neural Networks

Abstract

We address optimal link scheduling in large-scale wireless networks. The goal is to schedule transmissions over a time horizon so that to maximize sum rate while ensuring that average rates of each customer attain a minimum rate requirement. To this end, we formulate a constrained optimization problem and solve it using Lagrangian duality. Common primal-dual approaches lead to time invariant policies. Our constraint requires all links transmit a fraction of the time while avoiding interference, which calls for time-varying policies across time slots. We propose an iterative algorithm to sample optimal sequences of schedules and dual variables. The scheduling decisions are parameterized using a Graph Neural Network. We incorporate state-augmentation techniques to learn said parameterization, introducing dual variables as dynamic inputs to the policy. This augmentation enables the GNN to adapt scheduling decisions over time, balancing constraint satisfaction with performance maximization. We validate our approach through extensive numerical simulations, benchmarking against several baselines and considering varying constraint levels.