Resource allocation for M2M communication in heterogeneous network: coalitional game theory approach

Abstract

The heterogeneous cellular network (HCN) is a promising technology to handle the rising number of devices due to their universal presence. This rising popularity HCN based Machine-to-Machine (M2M) communications is opening new opportunities and also bringing forth new system design issues. However, the main challenge of M2M communication is the possibility of huge traffic and significant difference in the nature of M2M traffic than the current commercial traffic for which current cellular network is designed and optimized. In this article, we investigate the uplink resource allocation problem of M2M devices (MDs) in the multiple Femto base station's coverage. We first model the uplink power and sub-carrier allocation in femtocells independently; Based on the cooperative game resource allocation among MDs is analyzed through non-transferable utility game to enhance the data rate performance with minimum utilization of power. Simulation results show that the resource allocation model based on cooperative game is able to provide a fair distribution of data rate compared with non-cooperative and greedy type of MDs.