Clustering and dynamic resource allocation for macro-femtocell networks

Abstract

Femtocell dense deployment imposes new challenges for the resource allocation in a two-tier network such as: (1) dynamic resources allocation among the two tiers taking into account the offloaded traffic from macrocell, (2) granting access to public users while guaranteeing QoS for femtocell subscribers, and (3) appropriate power settings that finds a compromise between the overall system performance and the bandwidth allocated to femtocells. In this paper, we propose a twofold solution where 1) a heuristic femtocell cluster solution is proposed to maximize the network throughput taking into account the available capacity of femtocell clusters in terms of number of users and resources and 2) to motivate femtocell clustering, we incentivize femtocells by a simple reward mechanism that assigns extra resources for femtocell subscribers if they grant access to public users. Simulations are conducted to show the performance of our approach that is contrasted with another model using weighted water filling resource allocation algorithm and a cluster formation technique based on interference level.