Exploiting context, profiles, and policies in dynamic sub-carrier assignment algorithms for efficient radio resource management in OFDMA networks

Dynamic sub-carrier assignment (DSA) is considered as one of the most important aspects for achieving efficient spectrum utilization in orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA) based networks. Most of well-known DSA algorithms operate in a best effort manner, where the full set of sub-carriers is used in order to achieve the maximum possible quality of service level per user. However, in a real network environment, there are several management aspects to be considered such as context information (users, services, and radio environment conditions), user profiles, and network operator policies. In the context of OFDMA networks management, DSA algorithms should be extended incorporating such aspects in order to introduce fairness in the assignment of sub-carriers as well as to improve the overall system performance. In this paper, an efficient radio resource management scheme that incorporates a new DSA algorithm which exploits context profiles and policies information is presented. Results showcase the benefits that the proposed approach brings in terms of fairness on sub-carriers assignment and overall system performance.