Distributed channel allocation for D2D-enabled 5G networks using potential games

Frequency channel allocation is a key technique for improving the performance of cellular networks. In this paper, we address the channel allocation problem for a 5G multi-cell system. We consider a heterogeneous network in which cellular users, micro-cell users, and device-to-device (D2D) communications coexist within the radio footprint of the macro cell. We maximize the aggregate transmission rate, exploiting channel diversity and managing both the inter-cell interference, typical of cellular networks and the intra-cell interference generated by the nonorthogonal transmissions of the small-cell and D2D users. By modeling the allocation problem as a potential game, whose Nash equilibria correspond to the local optima of the objective function, we propose a new decentralized solution. The convergence of our scheme is enforced by using a better response dynamic based on a message passing approach. The simulation results assess the validity of the proposed scheme in terms of convergence time and achievable rate under different settings.