Scientific Reports (May 2025)
An efficient binary salp swarm algorithm for user selection in multiuser MIMO antenna systems
Abstract
Abstract The past ten years have seen notable research activity and significant advancements in multiuser multiple-input multiple-output (MU-MIMO) antennas. An MU-MIMO antenna system must accommodate many subscribers without additional bandwidth or energy. User scheduling becomes a critical strategy to take advantage of multiuser heterogeneity and acquire maximum gain in systems where the total number of recipients exceeds the number of transmitting antennas. Due to their high computational cost, many user selection methods currently in use, such as greedy algorithms and exhaustive search are unsuitable for MU-MIMO systems. A suitable scheduling mechanism is essential for the various users in an MU-MIMO system to utilise bandwidth and enhance the system’s total rate effectively. In this article, we proposed a user and antenna scheduling with a population-based meta-heuristic approach, namely the binary salp swarm algorithm (binary SSA), to increase the system sum rate with low computing complexity. We specifically used a population-based meta-heuristics optimisation technique to simulate the user scheduling problem in MU-MIMO systems, characterising complicated issues with binary decisions. Additionally, binary SSA significantly outperforms existing population-based models, such as the binary bat algorithm (binary BA), PSO, SSA, FPA and binary flower pollination algorithm (binary FPA), regarding system throughput/sum rate. The proposed binary SSA technique also effectively achieves a system sum rate compared to a random search scheme and other existing suboptimal scheduling methods. Compared to binary BA and binary FPA approaches, the binary SSA has a higher convergence rate and superior searching capabilities. The simulation outcomes show the proposed binary SSA-based scheduling scheme delivers noticeable performance benefits.
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