Interference-aware Picocells Coordination Resource Allocation in Heterogeneous OFDMA Networks

Abstract

Macrocells may suffer serious interference generated by the deployment of co-channel picocells. In this paper, a resource allocation algorithm based on base station coordination and pricing mechanism for downlink co-channel Orthogonal Frequency-division Multiple-access (OFDMA) picocells is proposed to increase capacity of picocells, and alleviate their interference to macrocells. The resource allocation problem is modeled as a potential game, and a distributed subchannel and power allocation algorithm are proposed to implement the resource allocation game. Simulation results show that the proposed algorithm not only improves the capacity of the picocells but also the total capacity of the macrocell, as compared with the unpriced resource allocation, constant step power allocation and Improved Iterative Water Filling (IIWF).