Distributed energy-efficient power and subcarrier allocation for OFDMA-based small cells

In this work, we derive a distributed resource allocation scheme for the uplink of an OFDMA-based small-cell network. The mobile terminals are modeled as utility-driven rational agents that aim at maximizing the number of bits correctly delivered at destination per unit of energy consumed, under minimum-rate constraints. The theoretical analysis of the underlying game equilibrium is exploited to derive an iterative and distributed algorithm that allows each terminal to select its optimal power allocation over subcarriers. Extensive simulations show that the proposed technique is able to properly allocate the resources across the network in a scalable and adaptive manner, while improving the performance of each user in terms of energy efficiency compared to an iterative waterfilling criterion.