Resource Allocation in Autonomous Cellular Networks

In a traditional cellular network the base stations (BSs) are deployed regularly according to a pre-determined pattern modeled by hexagons. The deployment of a larger number of BSs improves the network performance. However, a dense regular deployment of BSs is prohibitively expensive and in most cases not feasible. Alternatively the network can grow in an organic fashion by the deployment of BSs according to the traffic demand. A high traffic demand in a given locality is reflected in a higher number of BSs deployed in the area. In this paper, we propose a practical framework for the resource allocation of cellular networks with an irregular BS deployment pattern. To this end, a network clustering technique is proposed which forms clusters of coordinating BSs. The coordinated resource allocation among the BSs within each cluster is devised to achieve proportional fairness. The performance of the proposed framework is evaluated with regular as well as irregular deployment of BSs. The results are compared against standard resource allocation techniques and show promising results.