Joint Access Point Selection and Power Allocation for Uplink Wireless Networks

Abstract: We consider the distributed uplink resource allocation problem in a multi-carrier wireless network with multiple access points (APs). Each mobile user can optimize its own transmission rate by selecting a suitable AP and by controlling its transmit power. Our objective is to devise suitable algorithms by which mobile users can jointly perform these tasks in a distributed manner. Our approach relies on a game theoretic formulation of the joint power control and AP selection problem. In the proposed game, each user is a player with an associated strategy containing a discrete variable (the AP selection decision) and a continuous vector (the power allocation among multiple channels). We provide characterizations of the Nash Equilibrium of the proposed game, and present a set of novel algorithms that allow the users to efficiently optimize their rates. Finally, we study the properties of the proposed algorithms as well as their performance via extensive simulations.