SDN based optimal user association and resource allocation in heterogeneous cognitive networks

The increase in the number of connected smart mobile devices has fueled the exponential growth in mobile data. The next-generation networks must meet the demand for higher capacity. Heterogeneous cognitive networks with multiple base station tiers are a promising approach to achieving the higher data rate target. The user association problem is a major issue in the heterogeneous cognitive networks because of the disparity in transmission powers of the base stations involved. Our objective is to achieve the optimal user association under interference constraints. We formulate the problem into an optimization problem and employ matching theory to propose an algorithm to obtain the optimal user association. The proposed matching algorithm for the optimal user association plays the role of SDN application. We then perform simulations and compare our proposed algorithm with existing ones. The simulations results depict that our proposed algorithm outperforms others.