Abstract
This paper considers resource allocation and pricing for the downlink of a wireless network. We describe a model that applies to either a time-slotted system (e.g. Qualcomm's HDR proposal) or a CDMA system; the main feature of this model is that the channel quality varies across the users. We study using a pricing scheme for the allocation of radio resources. We show that to maximize revenue in such a system, the base station should allocate resources in a discriminatory manner, where different users are charged different prices based in part on their channel quality. However optimally allocating resources in this way is shown to require knowledge about each user's utility function. We consider a suboptimal scheme which does not require knowledge of the user's utility functions, and show that this scheme is asymptotically optimal, in the limit of large demand. Moreover such a scheme is shown to maximize social welfare. We also consider a heuristic scheme for the case of small demand, which does not require perfect knowledge about the users' utility functions. We provide numerical results that illustrate the performance of this heuristic.
Original language | English (US) |
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Article number | 36 |
Pages (from-to) | 1470-1479 |
Number of pages | 10 |
Journal | Proceedings - IEEE INFOCOM |
Volume | 3 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - 2002 |
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- General Computer Science
- Electrical and Electronic Engineering