Applying Bargaining Solutions to Resource Allocation in Multiuser MIMO-OFDMA Broadcast Systems

Multiuser multi-input multi-output orthogonal frequency division multiple access (MIMO-OFDMA) is regarded as an important technology for increasing the flexibility and efficiency of wireless communication systems. A well-behaved resource allocation strategy is crucial for the performance of such systems. In this paper, we systematically study the allocation problem from a game theory perspective for the multiuser downlink broadcast channel. First, we investigate the application of the Nash and Kalai-Smorodinsky bargaining games to a general resource allocation problem and propose algorithms to find the corresponding solutions. Then we apply the general solutions to the special case where spatial block diagonalization is combined with time-sharing to multiplex a subset of the users on every subcarrier. To reduce the computational complexity, a framework for simplifying the resulting algorithms is also given. Numerical results and analysis are provided to compare the performance of the different resource allocation methods.