A Unified Framework for Interference Modeling for Multi-User Wireless Networks

The paper addresses the problem of interference modeling for wireless networks. Two axiomatic frameworks are known from the literature: (1) standard interference functions introduced by Yates in [JSAC 1995], and (2) general interference functions proposed by the authors in their previous work. In this paper, both frameworks are analyzed and compared. It is shown that (1) is contained in the more general framework (2). This means that certain structure results, which were recently derived for (2) can also be applied to (1). A focus of this paper is on convexity and concavity properties, which are important because they often lead to interesting algorithmic opportunities. The results provide a bridge between both frameworks, which have been studied separately in the past.