Combinatorial advantages due to joint resource allocation in uplink CoMP systems

We explore the opportunities in cellular system design and operation offered by the joint resource allocation of the space/frequency division multiple access (SDMA/FDMA) in uplink cooperative multi-point (CoMP) systems. First, we analyze the underlying combinatorial structure of the allocation problem in terms of user set partitions and permutations. Due to the exponential complexity we propose a suboptimal greedy algorithm that allows to allocate large user populations with moderate computational complexity. Finally we provide numerical results and analyze the implications w.r.t. to system deployment, optimization of spectral/energy efficiency and fairness aspects.