Proportional fair scheduling with probabilistic interference avoidance in the uplink of multicell OFDMA systems

Uplink scheduling in a multicell OFDMA system is considered. A non-collaborative intercell interference avoidance method is proposed, where base stations shut down certain subcarriers in a probabilistic manner based on the received interference level. Proportional fair scheduling is implemented in order to ensure fairness for cell edge users. A low complexity scheduling algorithm is proposed for this purpose. The probabilistic interference avoidance scheme is shown to achieve notable performance improvements compared to standard approaches from the literature.