A Game Theoretic Distributed Algorithm for FeICIC Optimization in LTE-A HetNets

To obtain good network performance in Long Term Evolution-Advanced LTE-A heterogeneous networks HetNets, enhanced inter-cell interference coordination eICIC and further eICIC FeICIC have been proposed by LTE standardization bodies to address the entangled inter-cell interference and the user association problems. We propose the distributed algorithms based on the exact potential game framework for both eICIC and FeICIC optimizations. We demonstrate via simulations a 64 gain on energy efficiency EE achieved by eICIC and another 17 gain on EE achieved by FeICIC. We also show that FeICIC can bring other significant gains in terms of cell-edge throughput, spectral efficiency, and fairness among user throughputs. Moreover, we propose a downlink scheduler based on a cake-cutting algorithm that can further improve the performance of the optimization algorithms compared with conventional schedulers.