A Multidimensional Resource-Allocation Optimization Algorithm for the Network-Coding-Based Multiple-Access Relay Channels in OFDM Systems

Joint scheduling and resource allocation in uplink orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM) systems is complicated and even becomes intractable with a large subcarrier and a large user number. This paper investigates the resource allocation for OFDM-based multiuser multiple-access relay channels (MARCs) with network coding. We formulate a joint optimization problem considering source-node pairing, subcarrier assignment, subcarrier pairing, and power allocation to maximize the sum rate under per-user power constraints. The problem is solved in polynomial time by optimizing three separate subproblems. To further reduce the complexity, three low-complexity suboptimal algorithms are then proposed when fixing partial resource. The simulation results show the performance gains of the proposed algorithms versus per-node transmit power and source-node number, and the impact of relay location is also evaluated.