FCRA: Femtocell Cluster-Based Resource Allocation Scheme for OFDMA Networks

Recently, operators have resorted to femtocell networks in order to enhance indoor coverage and quality of service since macro-antennas fail to reach these objectives. Nevertheless, they are confronted to many challenges to make a success of femtocells deployment. In this paper, we address the issue of resources allocation in femtocell networks using OFDMA technology (e.g., WiMAX, LTE). Specifically, we propose a hybrid centralized/distributed resource allocation strategy namely \textit{Femtocell Cluster-based Resource Allocation} (\texttt{FCRA}). Firstly, \texttt{FCRA} builds interference-free femtocell clusters. Then, within a cluster the optimal resource allocation for each femtocell is performed by its cluster-head. Finally, the contingent collisions among different clusters are fixed. To achieve this, we formulate the problem mathematically as Min-Max optimization problem. Performance analysis shows that \texttt{FCRA} converges to the optimal solution in small-sized networks and outperforms two prominent related schemes (\texttt{C-DFP} and \texttt{DRA}) in large-sized ones. The results concern the throughput satisfaction rate, the spectrum spatial reuse, and the convergence time metrics.