Joint User Association and Resource Allocation in the Uplink of Heterogeneous Networks

TL;DR

This paper proposes an iterative optimization framework for joint user association, sub-channel assignment, antenna selection, and power control in uplink heterogeneous networks, improving data rates while protecting macro-cell users.

Contribution

It introduces a novel decomposition approach and iterative solution method for a complex non-convex joint optimization problem in uplink HetNets.

Findings

Proposed scheme outperforms existing methods in simulations.

The algorithm effectively balances data rate maximization and interference protection.

Complexity analysis confirms computational feasibility.

Abstract

This letter considers the problem of joint user association (UA), sub-channel assignment, antenna selection (AS), and power control in the uplink (UL) of a heterogeneous network such that the data rate of small cell users can be maximized while the macro-cell users are protected by imposing a threshold on the cross-tier interference. The considered problem is a non-convex mixed integer non-linear programming (MINLP). To tackle the problem, we decompose the original problem into two sub-problems: (i) joint UA, sub-channel assignment, and AS, and (ii) power control. Then, we iteratively solve the subproblems by applying the tools from majorization-minimization (MM) theory and augmented Lagrange method, respectively, and obtain locally optimal solutions for each sub-problem. Simulation results illustrate that our proposed scheme outperforms existing schemes. Complexity analysis of the proposed algorithm is also presented.