Interference Analysis and Subchannel Allocation Schemes in Tri-sectored OFDMA Systems

Keunyoung Kim, Geon-Min Yeo, Byung-Han Ryu and Kapseok Chang Mobile Telecommunication Research Division, ETRI, Daejeon, Korea.

AbstractThis paper analyzes the interference aspects of tri-sectored OFDMA systems and evaluates the performance of some subchannel allocation schemes to mitigate inter-sector interference. To maximize spectral efciency, it is preferred to adopt frequency reuse of 1. But, carrier to interference and noise ratio (CINR) values at the boundary of sectors are extremely deteriorated. Two subchannel allocation methods are compared and evaluated in this environment. One is to maximize disparity, which is to maximize the number of subchannels in good CINR values, and the other is to minimize disparity, which is to maximize the number of subchannels in moderate CINR values. These schemes are compared under proportionally fair scheduling algorithm. Simulation results regarding to throughput show that the schemes outperform random allocation schemes in 802.16 based systems. Index Termsinterference analysis, subchannel allocation, OFDMA

I. I NTRODUCTION The wireless environment has unfavorable features compared to a wired network due to multipath fading, shadowing, pathloss and the time-varying nature of signal strength. To overcome these hostile situations, orthogonal frequency division multiplex (OFDM) is considered as a promising solution because of the robustness against frequency selective fading [1]. OFDM can be regarded both as a modulation scheme and as a part of the multiple access techniques such as code division multiple access (CDMA), time division multiple access (TDMA), and frequency division multiple access (FDMA). In this paper, OFDM/FDMA, orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA) is investigated in which multiple access is realized by providing each user with a fraction of the available number of subcarriers. In addition to its inherent tolerance against intersymbol interference (ISI), OFDMA can provide exible control of radio resources with the system where the controllable radio resources are subcarriers and power. The system handling multi-dimensional radio resources can use the scarce resources more efciently, compared with systems in which the radio resource is just one of a frequency bin, a time slot and power. Radio resource control and allocation schemes have attracted much attention to provide wireless communication systems with efcient use of the scarce radio resource. The one dimensional power allocation problem for a single user case was examined in [2]. It is shown that the total power
This work was supported by the IT R&D program of MIC/IITA [2005-S404-12, Research & Development of Radio Transmission Technology for 3G evolution].

should be distributed according to water-lling process so as to maximize the capacity when independent Gaussian channels in parallel with a total power constraint is considered. Generalized problems when the number of users are more than one are given in [3]-[5]. But these problems do not deal with explicit methods of frequency allocation schemes, and the approaches are generally not effective for two dimensional subcarrier and power allocation problems. Resource allocation schemes based on OFDM systems are found in [6]-[10]. In [6], a subcarrier, bit and power allocation algorithm is proposed to minimize the total transmit power using Lagrangian relaxation. In [7], an efcient resource allocation algorithm is suggested via a two step approach, one for determining the number of subcarriers and the other for assigning the subcarriers. In [8] and [9], it is said that each subcarrier is allocated to the user with the best signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) and the power allocation to the subcarriers has the form of multiuser water-lling. Most of the above works are carried out for a downlink case only. The frequencies and power allocation for a uplink case is discussed in [10]. In [10], the optimal frequency partition turns out to be a simple two-band partition and the power allocation follows the multiuser water-lling, but the result is valid only for the case that the channel-gain-to-noise ratios for the two users are the same, which is not applicable to the general mobile communication environments. Although efcient transmission schemes of high-rate data have been suggested for multimedia service, one cant do much on the limited resources of radio frequency. The primary concern is the limited resources in wireless communication systems. If the frequency bandwidth remains the same, the challenge that wireless engineers will get is to meet customer demand with limited resources. Therefore, existing resources must be used in an optimal fashion. As a remedy, a cellular concept has been introduced in mobile systems for repeated use of the same frequency band. The frequency reuse is achieved by reducing transmitter power so that many smaller coverage areas (cells) replace the few larger coverage areas. Furthermore, the most cellular structure is composed of three sectors to overcome the hostile wireless channel conditions. Each of three sectors can be controlled within the BS. To maximize the spectral efciency in an OFDMA system with a tri-sectored cell structure, it is desirable to use an aggressive frequency reuse plan, e.g., the same and whole spectrum is used for multiple neighboring cells and each sector of a cell [11]. In this case, signicant cochannel interference is present for sectored OFDMA systems, which results in severe

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performance degradation, especially at the cell boundaries. This motivated our work of resource allocation schemes in trisectored OFDMA systems. Some interference-tolerant methods have been proposed, such as fractional frequency reuse and interference coordination [12]-[13]. In most OFDMA based systems such as WiMAX/WiBro systems and 3GPP long term evolution (LTE) systems, subcarriers are grouped into a subchannel, a logical collection of subcarriers, as a minimum resource allocation block. There are two main types of subcarrier permutation. One is adjacent permutation method (APM) and the distributed permutation method (DPM). In APM, a subchannel is composed of a bunch of adjacent subcarriers. Due to the adjacency of subcarriers, it works well with adaptive modulation and coding (AMC) and adaptive array systems (AAS). DPM employs full-frequency diversity by evenly distributing the subcarriers to subchannels. DPM is designed to minimize the performance degradation due to fast fading characteristics of mobile environments [16]. In the case of APM, if two or more different cells/sectors allocate the same subchannel at the same time, the throughput performance of the system degrades due to inter-cell/sector interference. In the case of DPM, the number of subcarriers assigned across cells or sectors are proportional to the trafc load of neighboring cells or sectors since the subcarriers are evenly distributed across the subchannels. Thus, average interference in a cell increases as the trafc load of other cells/sectors increases. We analyze the interference aspects in a fully-loaded and tri-sectored OFDMA system and compared the performance with some downlink subchannel allocation methods, based on APM, that attempt to reduce as many subchannels assigned across the sectors as possible in order to reduce inter-sector interference. One of algorithms is to maximize the number of subchannels in moderate CINR values, which results in minimization of the number of subchannels in poor CINR values. The other is to maximize the number of subchannels in good CINR values, which entails maximization of the number of subchannels in poor CINR values. Two algorithms are suggested and compared with random subchannel allocation schemes in the permutation schemes of APM and DPM. The remainder of this paper is organized as follows. In Sec. II, we proposes a CINR calculation model for each permutation method in OFDMA systems. Interference aspects of fully-loaded and tri-sectored OFDMA systems are analyzed in Sec. III. Some subchannel allocation schemes are presented in Sec. IV, and performance evaluation is done in Sec. V. Finally, concluding remarks are shown in Sec. VI. II. CINR C ALCULATION By intelligently allocating subchannels to each user, we can improve the carrier to interference and noise ratio (CINR). As a result, we can also expect improvement in throughput. The CINR value will differ with different multiple access schemes or with different subchannel permutation methods. In this section, a CINR calculation model for each permutation method in OFDMA systems is proposed [15]. It is assumed that power is assigned equally to the subchannels in use and the channel gain of each subchannel is

represented by an average value of each subcarriers channel gain in a subchannel. The interference power in a subchannel from other cells/sectors will be linearly proportional to the number of subcarrier hits1 in a subchannel. Then, for a receiver belonging to sector j, the received power2 in m-th subchannel m from transmitter i, Pi,j , is given by
m Pi,j =

Si 1 gm m , Niused i,j N subca i,j

(1)

where Si is the transmitting power from transmitter i, Niused is m the number of allocated subchannels in transmitter i, gi,j is the average channel gain of m-th subchannel between transmitter i and receiver j, N subca is the number of subcarriers in each m subchannel, and i,j is the number of subcarrier hits in m-th Si 1 m subchannel. In Eq. (1), N used gi,j N subca is the received power i of each subcarrier. m The value of i,j varies depending on the permutation methods. In DPM, it is assumed that each subchannel in a cell is composed of evenly distributed subcarriers. Thus, the number of subcarrier hits in each subchannel is the same for m each subchannel, and i,j is given by
m i,j =

N subca used Nj , N subch

(2)

where N subch is the number of subchannels in each sector. In APM, i,j is given by m i,j = N subca , if m-th subchannel is allocated across the sectors, (3) m i,j = 0, otherwise. For i = j which is the case that the receiver belongs to the m same sector of the transmitter, it is natural that i,j = N subca . m Finally, the CINR of m-th subchannel for the receiver i, i is given by
m i =
j=i

m Pi,i
m Pj,i + Gi

(4)

where Gi is additive white Gaussian noise at the receiver i. III. I NTERFERENCE A NALYSIS A Monte Carlo simulation method is adopted to evaluate the effect of inter-cell and inter-sector interference. The related values are averaged from 20,000 trials and gathered from a center cell among tri-sectored 19 cells (upto 2-tiers having 57 sectors). Fig. 1 shows the layout of base stations. At each trial, Mobile Stations (MSs) are dropped to be uniformly distributed in the center cell. For the channel model, only path-loss is considered and calculated by using the modied Hata model for urban environments as in Eq. (5) [17].
1 the case that the same subcarrier is assigned across sectors at the same time 2 It is assumed that if i = j, the receiver is located in a different sector of the transmitter, thus, the received power acts as interference power, and if i = j, the receiver is located in the same sector of the transmitter, thus, the received power acts as signal power.

Fig. 2.

Antenna orientation of each sector

Fig. 1.

Layout of base stations TABLE I S IMULATION PARAMETERS

Parameter Cell radius power/subchannel Thermal noise density Occupied Bandwidth Frequency reuse factor
Value 1,000m 1.25W -174 dBm/Hz 8.75 MHz 1

L = 35.2 log(d) + 137.32, 35.2 log(d0 ) + 137.32,

if d 30m if d < 30m,

(5)

Fig. 3. x dB

MS position whose value of inter-sector interference is greater than

where d in meters is the distance between a Base Station (BS) and MS, and d0 is 30m. The maximum C/I achievable in the subscriber receiver is limited by inter-chip interference induced by the base-band pulse shaping waveform, the radio noise oor, ADC quantization error, and adjacent carrier interference. So, the effective C/I with Max C/I cap assumed to be give by Eq. (6) [14]. = 1 , (C/I)ef f ective = (C/I)max
1
(C/I)combined

. (6)

The antenna pattern in a tri-sectored cell is expressed as A() = min[12( ), 20] where 180 180 [18]. The 70 antenna orientation of each sector is plotted in Fig. 2. It is assumed that there is no loss on the vertical azimuth. It is assumed that every cell is fully loaded, which means the whole resources (i.e. subchannel and power) are fully used in overall cells. The simulation parameters are summarized in Tab. I Under the assumptions, we observed inter-cell interference, inter sector interference, signal power and the resulting CINR

values in a center cell. Figs. 3 - 6 show our simulation results which represent MS positions whose corresponding values are greater (or less) than x dB. From the various simulation results, we can nd out following observation. Inter-sector Interference Related: The variation of intersector interference is more than 30dB depending on MSs position. In the boundary of sector, the interference level is relatively higher than that of other places, but, the distance between MS and BS is the most important factor determining the inter-sector interference. Inter-cell Interference Related: The variation of intersector interference is relatively smaller than that of intersector interference (about 3dB). In the boundary of sector, the interference level is relatively smaller than that of other places. Signal Power Related: The signal power pattern is almost the same as the antenna pattern. CINR Related: In the boundary of each sector, the CINR

level is extremely deteriorated. IV. S UBCHANNEL A LLOCATION S TRATEGIES In OFDMA systems adopting frequency reuse factor of 1, subchannels can be categorized into four classes according to the usage pattern in a tri-sectored cell such as subchannel not assigned by any sector (Class A subchannels), subchannel assigned by only one sector (Class B subchannels), subchannel assigned by any two sectors (Class C subchannels), and subchannel assigned by all three sectors (Class D subchannels) [15]. In the paper [15], the following two properties are provided. Under the assumption that minimization of Class A subchannels is satised, and the sum of trafc load of each sector is larger than 1, the number of Class C subchannels is minimized (maximized) if and only if the number of Class D subchannels is maximized (minimized). Under the same assumption, the number of Class B subchannels is maximized (minimized) if and only if the number of Class C (Class D) subchannels is maximized. Max Class C method can be considered as a scheme to minimize disparity, which is to maximize the number of subchannels in moderate CINR values. By contrast, the Max Class D method is to maximize disparity, which is to maximize the number of subchannels in good CINR values. V. S IMULATION R ESULTS We compared the performance of Max Class C and Max Class D methods with random allocation schemes using the permutation schemes of APM and DPM in the context of IEEE 802.16e Mobile WiMAX systems. 1024-FFT for 10 MHz bandwidth is assumed for an OFDMA channel conguration. The number of subchannels for APM and DPM are the same as 32. Simulation runs were based on a Monte Carlo method with 100, 000 trials. In each trial, 10 users were generated in the center cell and the locations of users were uniformly distributed in the cell. We assumed that each user always had trafc to be sent, which setup is usually called a full-buffered trafc model. We assumed that inter-cell interference resulted from fullyloaded cell. That is, all subchannels and maximum power are used in other cells. The interference from other sectors in the center cell was calculated from the actually allocated subchannels according to Max Class C, Max Class D, and random allocation schemes using APM and DPM, respectively. The trafc load3 in the center cell was averaged over , and sectors where = (i+1)/8, = i/8, and = (i1)/8 for 1 i 7. For the channel model, we considered only a path-loss model, which is given by Eq. (5). For scheduling policy, we used a proportional fair algorithm with window size 1000 that acknowledges feedback about the channel quality for each user. It chooses the user i that maximizes DRCi (t) where Ri (t) is an exponentially smoothed Ri (t)
3 The trafc load of each sector is dened as the ratio of the number of subchannels allocated to users to the number of whole subchannels in a sector or cell. , and present the trafc loads of each sector.

Fig. 4. MS position whose value of inter-cell interference is less than x dB

Fig. 5.

MS position whose value of signal power is greater than x dB

Fig. 6.

MS position whose value of CINR is greater than x dB

TABLE II CINR - DATA RATE MAPPING TABLE

Min CINR[dB] -6.6 -4.1 -1.1 2
Rate[kbps] 38.4 57.6 115.2 230.4
Min CINR[dB] 7.8 12.3 15.4 18.5
Rate[kbps] 460.8 691.2 921.6 1152

of inter-sector interference is relatively smaller than that of inter-sector interference (about 3dB). In the boundary of sector, the interference level is relatively small. In the boundary of each sector, the CINR level is extremely deteriorated, which means that we could achieve signicant performance gain with carefully designed resource allocation schemes. We compared some subchannel allocation schemes such as Max Class C method, Max Class D method and random allocation methods in the permutation schemes of APM and DPM. The performance gain is signicantly achieved in moderate trafc load because we cannot do much in case of heavy or light trafc load with resource allocation schemes. R EFERENCES
[1] Richard Van Nee and Ramjee Prasad, OFDM for wireless multimedia communications. Artech House, 2000. [2] Thomas M. Cover and Joy A. Thomas, Elements of information theory. New york: Wiley and Sons, 1991. [3] Rogen S. Cheng and Sergio Verd, Gaussian multiaccess channels with u ISI: Capacity region and multiuser water-lling, IEEE Trans. Inform. Theory, vol. 39, No. 3, pp.773-785, May 1993. [4] David N. C. Tse and Stephen V. Hanly, Multiaccess Fading Channels-Part I: Polymatroid Structure, Optimal Resource Allocation and Throughput Capacities, IEEE Trans. Inform. Theory, vol. 44, No. 7, pp.2796-2815, Nov. 1998. [5] R. Knopp and P. A. Humblet, Information capacity and power control in single-cell multiuser communications in Proc. IEEE Int. Conf. Commun., 1995 (ICC95), pp. 331-335, Seattle, WA, June 1995. [6] C. Y. Wong, R. S. Cheng, K. B. Letaief, and R. D. Murch, Multiuser OFDM with adaptive subcarrier, bit and power allocation, IEEE J. Sel. Areas Commun., vol. 17, pp.1747-1757, Oct. 1999. [7] D. Kivanc, G. Li and H. Liu, Computationally efcient bandwidth allocation and power control for OFDMA, IEEE Trans. Wireless Commun., vol. 2, pp.1150-1158, Nov. 2003. [8] Guocong Song and Ye Li, Adaptive subcarrier and power allocation in OFDM based on maximizing utility, in Proc. IEEE Vehicular Technology Conf. (VTC03), pp.905-909, April 2003. [9] Jiho Jang and Kwang Bok Lee, Transmit power adaptation for multiuser OFDM systems, IEEE J. Sel. Areas Commun., vol. 21, pp.171-178, Feb. 2003. [10] Wei Yu and John M. Ciof, FDMA capacity of Gaussian multipleaccess channels with ISI, IEEE Trans. Commun., vol. 50, pp.102-111, Jan. 2002. [11] A. Ghosh et al, Broadband Wireless Access with WiMax/802.16: Current Performance Benchmarks and Future Potential, Communications Magazine, IEEE, vol. 43, no. 2, pp.129-136, Feb. 2005. [12] Renshui Zhu, Xing Zhang and Wenbo Wang, Scheduling Based Controllable Interference Coordination in OFDMA Systems, ChinaCom06, pp.1-5, Oct. 2006. [13] Weimin Xiao, R. Ratasuk, A. Ghosh, R. Love, Yakun Sun and R. Nory, Uplink Power Control, Interference Coordination and Resource Allocation for 3GPP E-UTRA, VTC 2006 Fall, pp. 1-5, Sept. 2006. [14] 3GPP2 C.R1002-0 cdma2000 Evaluation Methodology Revision 0, Dec. 2004. [15] Jung-Ryun Lee, Keunyoung Kim and Yong-Hoon Lim, Inter-sector Interference Mitigation Method in Triply-Sectorized OFDMA Systems, Lecture Notes on Computer Science, vol. 4097, pp. 133-143, Aug. 2006. [16] Hassan Yaghoobi, Scalable OFDMA Physical Layer in IEEE 802.16 WirelessMAN, Intel Technology Journal, vol. 8, no. 3, pp. 1-14, Aug. 2004. [17] ITU-R, M.1225, GUIDELINES FOR EVALUATION OF RADIO TRANSMISSION TECHNOLOGIES FOR IMT-2000, 1997. [18] 3GPP2 Contribution, C.R1002-C-0, cdma2000 Evaluation Methodology, Dec. 2004. [19] IEEE 802.16-REVd/D5, Draft IEEE Standard for Local and Metropolitan Area Networks - Part 16: Air Interface for Fixed Broadband Wireless Access Systems, May, 2004. [20] D. M. Andrews, Instability of the proportional fair scheduling algorithm for HDR, IEEE Trans. Wireless Commun., vol. 3, no. 5, pp. 1422-1426, Sep. 2004

Fig. 7.

Throughput as a function of average trafc load

average of the service rate received by user i and DRCi (t) is the amount of data that can be transmitted to user i in time slot t [20]. The system performance was evaluated by the average throughput of the center cell. Average throughput was derived from the CINR-throughput relationships which resulted from the link level simulation results combining with AMC operation. Table II shows the mapping table between CINR and achievable data rates. Fig. 7 shows the average throughput as a function of average trafc load of the target cell. The result shows that the average throughput of Max Class C is better than that of Max Class D and random allocation schemes. The average throughput of Max Class C is better than that of random allocation and Max Class D. The performance gain is signicantly achieved in moderate trafc load. In case of heavy or light trafc load, the performance gain is small. This comes from the fact as follows. In light trafc load, the interference is negligible so that random allocation achieve performance gain comparable to carefully designed allocation schemes. In heavy trafc load, almost every subchannel is used so that any allocation schemes could not alleviate the interference. VI. C ONCLUSIONS We analyzes the interference aspects of fully-loaded and tri-sectored OFDMA systems. The variation of inter-sector interference is more than 30dB depending on MSs position. In the boundary of sector, the interference level is relatively high, and the distance between MS and BS is the most important factor determining the inter-sector interference. The variation