Energy-Efficient Resource Allocation in Wireless Networks with Quality-of-Service Constraints

A game-theoretic model is proposed to study the cross-layer problem of joint power and rate control with quality of service (QoS) constraints in multiple-access networks. In the proposed game, each user seeks to choose its transmit power and rate in a distributed manner in order to maximize its own utility while satisfying its QoS requirements. The user's QoS constraints are specified in terms of the average source rate and an upper bound on the average delay where the delay includes both transmission and queuing delays. The utility function considered here measures energy efficiency and is particularly suitable for wireless networks with energy constraints. The Nash equilibrium solution for the proposed non-cooperative game is derived and a closed-form expression for the utility achieved at equilibrium is obtained. It is shown that the QoS requirements of a user translate into a "size" for the user which is an indication of the amount of network resources consumed by the user. Using this competitive multiuser framework, the tradeoffs among throughput, delay, network capacity and energy efficiency are studied. In addition, analytical expressions are given for users' delay profiles and the delay performance of the users at Nash equilibrium is quantified.Comment: Accpeted for publication in the IEEE Transactions on Communication

Delay-Limited Throughput Maximization for Fading Channels using Rate and Power Control

Conference PaperThe fading channels seen in many wireless systems provide a particularly hostile environment for reliable communication. Current metrics for evaluating the performance limits of fading channels have shortcomings. Ergodic capacity, representing the ultimate error-free communications limit, only applies to systems with infinite coding delay. Practical systems are delay-limited and must use finite-length codes. For delay-limited systems /spl epsi/-capacity and delay-limited capacity are typically used to quantify the communications performance. However, /spl epsi/-capacity is not an estimate of error-free performance while delay-limited capacity tends to be an overly conservative measure. We model practical systems as a single server queue and quantify the communications performance as the average throughput through the queue. Throughput is maximized by optimally selecting the transmission rate and power control strategy. Using this approach we arrive at striking conclusions. First, we show that a throughput very close to ergodic capacity can be achieved with a small coding delay. Second, the optimal transmission rate for some systems can be higher than the ergodic capacity of the channel. Third, we demonstrate the notion that power adaptation does not improve communication performance does not hold for delay-limited systems