Outage-based optimal power control for generalized multiuser fading channels

We address the problem of achieving outage probability constraints on the uplink of a code-division multiple-access (CDMA) system employing power control and linear multiuser detection, where we aim to minimize the total expended power. We propose a generalized framework for solving such problems under modest assumptions on the underlying channel fading distribution. Unlike previous work, which dealt with a Rayleigh fast-fading model, we allow each user to have a different fading distribution. We show how this problem can be formed as an optimization over user transmit powers and linear receivers, and, where the problem is feasible, we provide conceptually simple iterative algorithms that find the minimum power solution while achieving outage specifications with equality. We further generalize a mapping from outage probability specifications to average signal-to-interference-ratio constraints that was previously applicable only to Rayleigh-faded channels. This mapping allows us to develop suboptimal, computationally efficient algorithms to solve the original problem. Numerical results are provided that validate the iterative schemes, showing the closeness of the optimal and mapped solutions, even under circumstances where the map does not guarantee that constraints will be achieved.