Interference Avoidance through Dynamic Downlink OFDMA Subchannel Allocation using Intercell Coordination

Abstract

OFDMA subchannel allocation has been well-studied. However, most of the available literature considers a single cell system without cochannel interference. We present a novel intercell interference avoidance scheme, in which the downlink OFDMA subchannels are allocated through intercell coordination in a multicell environment. The proposed scheme not only aims to achieve maximized network throughput but also focuses on providing improved throughput for cell or sector edge users that are most affected by intercell interference. Enhanced cell edge performance may result in fewer base stations needed to cover a region; this, in turn, may yield substantial savings in deployment cost. The scheme is comprised of two different algorithms; one at the base station level, and the other at a central controller to which a group of neighboring base stations are connected. The performance of the proposed scheme is compared with that of a reference scheme in which coordination is not employed. It is observed from simulation results that the proposed scheme outperforms the reference scheme in terms of network and cell edge throughput.