Power Allocation in Multi-Carrier Networks with Unicast and Multicast Services

Since the provision of both unicast and multicast services is expected for the next generation of multi-carrier wireless systems, the allocation of resources for this combination of services is a relevant topic, which may have a significant impact on the system performance. The focus of this work lies on the allocation of power to the different downlink subchannels of a multi-carrier system containing both unicast and multicast users. The power allocation problem is analyzed considering on the one hand the maximization of the sum throughput and on the other hand the maximization of the minimum SNR. The solution of the former is presented, which depends on numerical optimization, and an algorithm similar to the waterfilling hypothesis testing is proposed for reducing the processing time, while for the latter a closed-form solution is demonstrated. A simplified power allocation algorithm based on multicast group quality criteria is also evaluated and shown to approximate the maximal achievable performance under certain circumstances.