A sub-optimal joint subcarrier and power allocation algorithm for multiuser OFDM

Abstract — This paper investigates subcarrier and power allo-cation in multiuser OFDM. The aim is to maximize the overall rate while achieving proportional fairness amongst users under a total power constraint. Achieving the optimal solution is computationally demanding thereby necessitating the use of sub-optimal techniques. Existing sub-optimal techniques either use fixed power allocation and perform only subcarrier allocation or handle subcarrier and power allocation separately. In this paper, we propose an algorithm that performs joint subcarrier and power allocation. Simulation results are shown to compare the performance of the proposed algorithm with that of existing algorithms. Index Terms — Water-filling, power allocation, subcarrier allo-cation, multiuser OFDM, OFDMA