Fair resource allocation using bargaining over OFDMA relay networks

This paper studies fair resource allocation schemes for orthogonal frequency-division multiple-access (OFDMA) with the decode-and-forward relaying strategy. To satisfy the heterogenous rate requirement of each user while considering the fairness and efficiency as performance indices, the bargaining theory is applied to allocate resource at a relay node to multiple source nodes. Motivated by the fact that each source´s achievable rate on individual sub-carrier is limited by decodability constraint, we apply the Kalai-Smorodinsky bargaining (KSB) theory to allocate resource at the relay fairly. KSB ensures that all sources incur the same surplus rate penalty relative to the maximal surplus rate. To improve system efficiency, the Nash bargaining (NB) problem is formulated to maximize NB solution fairness criterion by exploiting multiuser diversity. A simple yet efficient algorithm is derived to assign sub-carrier and power at the relay for multiple users. Simulation results demonstrate that both KSB-based solution and NB solution can improve total rates while maintaining fairness among sources.