QoE-oriented partially overlapping channel access in wireless networks: a game-theoretic learning approach

Abstract

In order to promote the spectral utilization, this article investigates the partially overlapping channel (POC) accessing problem in the wireless network. To reflect the heterogeneous characteristics of users, the optimization goal is set as maximizing the quality of service (QoE), instead of maximizing the throughput or minimizing the interference. The problem is formulated as a QoE maximization game and is then proved to be an ordinal potential game by utilizing the approximate relationship between interference and QoE. The proposed game is proved to have at least one pure Nash equilibrium (NE) and the best pure strategy NE point is an approximate global optimum of maximizing network QoE. A distributed algorithm is designed to reach the NE and it is proved that when the learning parameter is large enough, the algorithm asymptotically maximizes the network QoE. Simulation results verify the effectiveness of utilizing POCs and the proposed method.