Low complexity resource allocation algorithm by multiple attribute weighing and user ranking for OFDMA systems

We propose an effective subcarrier allocation scheme for multiuser orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA) system in the downlink transmission with low computational complexity. In the proposed scheme, by taking multiple attributes of a user's channel, such as carrier gain decrease rate and variation from the mean channel gain of the system, to determine a rank for the user, subcarriers are then allocated depending on the individual user's rank. Different channel characteristics are used to better understand a user's need for subcarriers and hence determine a priority for the user. We also adopt an attribute weighing scheme to enhance the performance of the proposed scheme. The scheme is computationally efficient, since it avoids using iterations for the algorithm convergence and also common water-filling calculations that become more complex with increasing system parameters. Low complexity is achieved by allocating subcarriers to users depending on their determined rank. Our proposed scheme is simulated in comparison with other mathematically efficient subcarrier allocation schemes as well as with a conventional greedy allocation scheme. It is shown that the proposed method demonstrates competitive results with the simulated schemes.