Robust Resource Allocation With Joint Carrier Aggregation in Multi-Carrier Cellular Networks

Abstract

In this paper, we present a robust optimal resource allocation (RA) with joint carrier aggregation (CA) approach to allocate multiple carriers resources optimally among users with elastic and inelastic traffic in cellular networks. We use utility proportional fairness allocation policy, where the fairness among users is in utility percentage of the application running on the user equipment (UE). We introduce an efficient RA approach to allocate the network spectrum resources from multiple carriers based on a CA scenario. We present a robust RA algorithm that allocates optimal aggregated rates for both high-traffic and low-traffic situations. Our distributed RA algorithm allocates an optimal rate to each user from all carriers in its range while providing the minimum price for the allocated rate. In addition, we analyze the convergence of the algorithm with different network traffic densities and show that our algorithm provides traffic dependent pricing for network providers. Finally, we present simulation results for the performance of our RA algorithm.