Soft-Bar: a network-assisted resource allocation algorithm for throughput maximization and QoS provisioning in wireless data networks

We propose a network-assisted radio resource allocation algorithm for wireless data networks with synchronized base stations, which support variable rate transmission. The algorithm, Soft-Bar, may be used in both mobile and fixed wireless systems to assign the channel, transmission mode and transmit power for each user, and may be implemented in a distributed manner. The basic idea of the algorithm is to use measurements at the base and the terminal, and limited, real-time inter-base signaling, to control the interference generated by the few dominant interferers for each user. We show that in an EDGE-like system using 1/3 reuse, compared to conventional random packet assignment, Soft-Bar can (1) increase the system throughput by more than 50% for a given delay constraint; or (2) increase the number of users by more than 30% for a given user outage requirement, while at the same time improving the user experience. In addition, it can facilitate QoS provisioning in a straightforward manner