A Novel Fairness-Aware Resource Allocation Scheme in Multiuser SISO-OFDMA Downlink

The problem of resource allocation for the downlink of wireless systems operating over a frequency-selective channel is investigated. It is assumed that both the Base Station (BS) and each user are equipped with a single antenna (Single Input Single Output-SISO case), and Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access (OFDMA) is used as a multiple access scheme. The aim is to maximize the sum of the users' data rates subject to constraints on total available power and proportional fairness among users' data rates. Achieving the optimal solution has a high computational cost thereby the use of suboptimal techniques is necessary. A suboptimal, but efficient, scheme is devised, and it is shown, via simulation, that not only the proposed resource allocation scheme achieve higher sum of the users' data rates than other existing schemes but also the sum data rate is distributed fairly and flexibly among users. In addition, the proposed scheme is complexity effective and can be applied to latest-generation wireless systems that provide Quality-of-Service (QoS) guarantees.