A Distributed Power Allocation Algorithm with Inter-cell Interference Coordination for Multi-cell OFDMA Systems

Inter-cell interference is a serious problem in multi-cell OFDMA systems. In this paper, an iterative interference price based power allocation algorithm with inter-cell interference coordination is proposed for downlink multi-cell OFDMA systems. In the algorithm, each base station announces a price for interference and performs power allocation based on the price information received from other base stations with the objective of maximizing the net utility of the local cell. Through price information updating and transmit power reallocation in every iteration, the algorithm can intelligently coordinate the inter-cell interference in the system. Besides, the algorithm can be implemented distributedly with price information shared among neighboring cells. Considering the heavy feedback overhead from the users to the base stations, a simplified algorithm which considers only the major interference is also proposed. Simulation results show that when the inter-cell interference is serious, the proposed algorithms can effectively increase the transmission rate compared with iterative water-filling.