A coalitional game-inspired algorithm for resource allocation in orthogonal frequency division multiple access

This work investigates the problem of resource allocation (in terms of transmit powers and subchannel assignment) in the uplink channel of an orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA) network, populated by mobile users with constraints in terms of target transmit data rates. The optimization problem is tackled with the analytical tools of coalitional game theory, and a simple and practical algorithm based on Markov modeling is introduced. The proposed algorithm allows the mobile devices to fulfill their data rate demands with minimum utilization of the network resources. Simulation results are provided to validate the theoretical analysis for practical OFDMA network parameters.