A Learning-Based Coexistence Mechanism for LAA-LTE Based HetNets

Abstract: License-assisted access LTE (LAA-LTE) has been proposed to deal with the intense contradiction between tremendous mobile traffic demands and crowded licensed spectrums. In this paper, we investigate the coexistence mechanism for LAA-LTE based heterogenous networks (HetNets). A joint resource allocation and network access problem is considered to maximize the normalized throughput of the unlicensed band while guaranteeing the quality-of-service requirements of incumbent WiFi users. A two-level learning-based framework is proposed to solve the problem by decomposing it into two subproblems. In the master level, a Q-learning based method is developed for the LAA-LTE system to determine the proper transmission time. In the slave one, a game-theory based learning method is adopted by each user to autonomously perform network access. Simulation results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed solution.