performance of energy efficient game theoretical-based power control algorithm in a discrete power environment

Transmitter power control is an essential tool for managing the interference in a system constituted by a set of communications nodes. In the absence of a central controller, the decentralized power control is of special interest and may be characterized as a competition among the communication nodes. This indicates the adequacy of the application of noncooperative game theory concepts to the problem. The continuous domain for transmit power is usually assumed, although, in practice, digitally power controlled systems work with discrete power levels. In this work we evaluate the performance of a distributed power control algorithm which is derived from the formulation of the power control problem as a static multi-stage nonzero- sum noncooperative game. Continuous and discrete domains for transmit power are considered.