Systems and methods for performing traffic engineering in a communications network

A Traffic Engineering (TE) controller comprising:

• a processor;
• an input interface coupled to the processor, the input interface for receiving buffer statuses associated with nodes traversed by a flow in a communications network;
• a memory coupled to the processor and having instructions stored therein, that when executed by the processor causes the TE controller to set an activation factor for at least one wireless link of the communications network in accordance with the buffer statuses;
• and
• an output interface coupled to the processor, the output interface for transmitting the activation factor for the at least one wireless link to a scheduler for scheduling activation of the at least one wireless link in accordance with the activation factor.

A scheduler for scheduling activation of links for a flow traversing a communications network, the scheduler comprising:

• a processor;
• an input interface coupled to the processor, the input interface for receiving an activation factor for at least one wireless link of the communications network indicative of a suggested amount of time within a defined time window that the at least one wireless link should be active, and buffer statuses associated with nodes traversed by the flow in the communications network;
• a memory coupled to the processor and having instructions stored therein that when executed by the processor causes the scheduler to set scheduling of the at least one wireless link according to the activation factor and the buffer statuses associated with the nodes traversed by the flow;
• and
• an output interface coupled to the processor, the output interface for transmitting signals to activate the at least one wireless link in accordance with the set scheduling.