  In this paper, we consider energy efficient multiuser scheduling. Packet loss
tolerance of the applications is exploited to minimize average system energy.
There is a constraint on average packet drop rate and maximum number of packets
dropped successively (bursty loss). A finite buffer size is assumed. We propose
a scheme which schedules the users opportunistically according to the channel
conditions, packet loss constraints and buffer size parameters. We assume
imperfect channel state information at the transmitter side and analyze the
scheme in large user limit using stochastic optimization techniques. First, we
optimize system energy for a fixed buffer size which results in a corresponding
statistical guarantee on successive packet drop. Then, we determine the minimum
buffer size to achieve a target (improved) energy efficiency for the same (or
better) statistical guarantee. We show that buffer size can be traded
effectively to achieve system energy efficiency for target statistical
guarantees on packet loss parameters.
