User-centric energy aware compensation framework for hybrid macro-femtocell networks

A novel compensation framework to motivate the hybrid access in the uplink transmission of the femtocell network is discussed in this paper, based on the power allocation to each user equipment (UE) in order to achieve the signal-to-interference-plus-noise-ratio (SINR) based quality-of-service (QoS) requirement. The energy efficiency of the whole macro-femtocell network is the utility of the macrocell base station (MBS). Hybrid access, in which the femtocell access points (FAPs) can serve the certain number of nearby macro UEs (MUEs), helps to save the sum power consumption. However, the rate-based utility of the registered femtocell UEs (FUEs) is decreased with the additionally served MUEs. Therefore, the MBS compensates the FAP to motivate the hybrid access. A Stackelberg game is formulated where the MBS serves as a leader and the FAP serves as a follower. The optimal number of accepted MUEs in the hybrid access and the optimal compensation price are derived. Numerous simulations are conducted showing that the proposed compensation framework can lead to a win-win solution.