Combined Base Station Association and Power Control in Multi-channel Cellular Networks

TL;DR

This paper investigates a combined approach for base station association and power control in multi-channel cellular networks, proposing distributed algorithms and pricing mechanisms to improve system efficiency.

Contribution

It introduces a distributed algorithm for joint base station association and power control, and proposes pricing mechanisms to enhance system optimality.

Findings

Algorithms converge to Nash equilibria

Equilibria are not always system optimal

Pricing mechanisms can improve efficiency

Abstract

A combined base station association and power control problem is studied for the uplink of multichannel multicell cellular networks, in which each channel is used by exactly one cell (i.e., base station). A distributed association and power update algorithm is proposed and shown to converge to a Nash equilibrium of a noncooperative game. We consider network models with discrete mobiles (yielding an atomic congestion game), as well as a continuum of mobiles (yielding a population game). We find that the equilibria need not be Pareto efficient, nor need they be system optimal. To address the lack of system optimality, we propose pricing mechanisms. It is shown that these mechanisms can be implemented in a distributed fashion.