Combined power and rate allocation in self-optimized multi-service two-tier femtocell networks

Abstract

In this paper a novel utility-based game theoretic framework is proposed towards simultaneously allocating users’ uplink transmission power and rate in multi-service two-tier open-access femtocell networks. Each user is associated with an appropriately designed utility function, depending on both transmission powers and rates, while accounting for the tier each user belongs to (i.e. Macro User (MU) and Femto User (FU)), and the type of service he requests (i.e. Real Time (RT) or Non-Real Time (NRT)). Towards mitigating the intercell and cross-tier interference caused by FUs and giving higher priority to the MUs, a convex pricing mechanism with respect to FUs’ bit energy to interference density ratio is also incorporated. The overall resource allocation problem is formulated as a Utility-based uplink Power and Rate Allocation game in Multi-Service two-tier Femtocell networks (UPRA-MSF), where each user aims selfishly at maximizing his utility-based performance. The existence and uniqueness of UPRA-MSF game's Nash equilibrium with respect to both uplink transmission power and rate is analytically shown. A distributed algorithm is proposed towards obtaining the corresponding equilibrium point and its convergence is proven. Finally, the operational effectiveness and superiority of the proposed framework is evaluated through modeling and comparative simulation.