Max-min fair resource allocation for LTE-advanced relay-enhanced cells

Relaying in OFDMA-based networks is an effective mechanism for enhancing the cell-edge capacity, extending the coverage and utilizing the bandwidth efficiently through spatial reuse. To harness the benefits of relaying, efficient resource allocation schemes should be used, which are aware of the highly dynamic nature of interference in OFDMA relay-enhanced cells (RECs). This paper tackles the joint Power Allocation (PA) and Resource Block Assignment (RBA) problem in a single-cell OFDMA REC. Fair allocation of resources is achieved by assuming a max-min fair objective for the problem and a novel solution technique is proposed, which is capable of obtaining a local optimum for this complex problem. Comparison with other similar works shows the effectiveness of our proposed technique. Simulation results show increase in the 10%tile capacity by a factor of 6.6 compared to previous solution techniques. Moreover, using Jain´s fairness index, we show that this technique guarantees more fairness among users.