Dynamic Server Allocation Under Stochastic Switchover on Time-Varying Links

Abstract: Dynamic resource allocation to parallel queues is a cornerstone of network scheduling, yet classical solutions often fail when accounting for the overhead of switching delays to queues with superior link conditions. In particular, system performance is further degraded when switching delays are stochastic and inhomogeneous. In this domain, the myopic, Max-Weight policy struggles, as it is agnostic to switching delays. This paper introduces ACI, a non-myopic, frame-based scheduling framework that directly amortizes these switching delays. We first use a Lyapunov drift analysis to prove that backlog-driven ACI is throughput-optimal with respect to a scaled capacity region; then validate ACI's effectiveness on multi-UAV networks with an FSO backhaul. Finally, we demonstrate how adapting its core urgency metric provides the flexibility to navigate the throughput-latency trade-off.