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Stackelberg game based interference management for two-tier femtocell networks

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Abstract

Femtocell is viewed as a promising option for mobile operators to improve coverage and provide high-data-rate services in a cost-effective manner. This paper considers the uplink interference management problem in a spectrum-sharing femtocell network. Assuming that the macrocell base station (MBS) is rewarded for sharing the spectrum with femtocells by setting a reasonable interference cap (IC) for femtocell users’ (FUEs’) transmissions. Within IC, the FUEs allocate their transmission powers competitively while not introducing much interference to both the macrocell users (MUEs) and other FUEs. A Stackelberg game is formulated to jointly maximize the utility of MBS and the individual utility of FUEs. Specifically, the maximum tolerable interference at the MBS is used as the resource that the leader (MBS) and the followers (FUEs) compete for. Then, the backward induction method is applied to achieve the Stackelberg equilibrium and a distributed power update rule is developed for FUEs. In addition, the implementation protocol is presented, some issues related to the implementations and some future extensions regarding the MUEs’ uplink protection are discussed. Lastly, numerical results demonstrate the performance of our proposed power allocation in detail, and show the effects of varying the number of FBSs and changing other system parameters on the system’s performance.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by National Basic Research Program of China (973 Program) (No. 2010CB731800), Key Project of National Nature Science Foundation of China (No. 60934003), National Nature Science Foundation of China (Nos 61203104, 61104033, 61172095 & 61174127), Nature Science Foundation of Hebei Province (F2012203126 & F2011203226), Research Foundation for the Doctoral Program of Higher education under Grant 20110073120025, 2011007310005, and Program for Doctor Foundation of Yanshan University (B632).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Laboratory of Industrial Computer Control Engineering of Hebei Province, Institute of Electrical Engineering, Yanshan University, Qinhuangdao, 066004, China

    Qiaoni Han, Kai Ma, Xiaocheng Wang, Xinping Guan & Juhai Ma

  2. School of Electronic, Information and Electrical Engineering, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, 200240, China

    Xinping Guan

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  1. Qiaoni Han
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  2. Kai Ma
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  3. Xiaocheng Wang
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Correspondence to Kai Ma.

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Han, Q., Ma, K., Wang, X. et al. Stackelberg game based interference management for two-tier femtocell networks. Wireless Netw 19, 1665–1677 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11276-013-0562-4

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