Discrete-rate allocation schemes in multi-cell scenarios with power adaptation

Interference mitigation and adaptive multi-user resource allocation are among the most promising technological breakthroughs that should improve capacity of future broadband wireless communications. In a multi-cell scenario, where co-channel interference is the performance limiting factor, discrete-rate resource allocation algorithms, selecting those channels with best Signal-to-Interference and Noise-Ratio (SINR), can reduce the transmission power in each base station, acting indirectly on the co-channel interference levels. In this paper we investigate multi-cell systems in which power adaptation acts as a positive factor for the interference reduction. We are interested here in the convergence properties of the dynamic model of the system and in the role of the number and position of SINR thresholds of the discrete-rate profiles. We find that, in multi-cell scenarios, the application of power reduction makes the spectral efficiency of the system relatively insensitive to the number of discrete-rate profiles, once fixed the minimum and maximum SINR thresholds.