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Joint user association and resource partition for downlink-uplink decoupling inmulti-tier HetNets

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Abstract

Traditional cellular networks require the downlink (DL) and uplink (UL) of mobile users (MUs) to be associated with a single base station (BS). However, the power gap between BSs and MUs in different transmission environments results in the BS with the strongest downlink differing from the BS with the strongest uplink. In addition, the significant increase in the number of wireless machine type communication (MTC) devices accessing cellular networks has created a DL/UL traffic imbalance with higher traffic volume on the uplink. In this paper, a joint user association and resource partition framework for downlink-uplink decoupling (DUDe) is developed for a tiered heterogeneous cellular network (HCN). Different from the traditional association rules such as maximal received power and range extension, a coalition game based scheme is proposed for the optimal user association with DUDe. The stability and convergence of this scheme are proven and shown to converge to a Nash equilibrium at a geometric rate. Moreover, the DL and UL optimal bandwidth partition for BSs is derived based on user association considering fairness. Extensive simulation results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed scheme, which enhances the sum rate compared with other user association strategies.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. MOE Key Laboratory of Universal Wireless Communications, Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications, Beijing, 100876, China

    Zhi-yong Feng & Ze-bing Feng

  2. Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Victoria, Victoria, BC, V8P 5C2, Canada

    T. Aaron Gulliver

Authors
  1. Zhi-yong Feng
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  2. Ze-bing Feng
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  3. T. Aaron Gulliver
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Zhi-yong Feng.

Additional information

Project supported by the National High-Tech R&D Program (863) of China (No. 2015AA01A705) and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 61525101)

ORCID: Zhi-yong FENG, http://orcid.org/0000-0001-5322-222X

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Feng, Zy., Feng, Zb. & Gulliver, T.A. Joint user association and resource partition for downlink-uplink decoupling inmulti-tier HetNets. Frontiers Inf Technol Electronic Eng 18, 817–829 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1631/FITEE.1700031

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1631/FITEE.1700031

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