Energy-efficient dynamic resource allocation with opportunistic
network coding in OFDMA relay networks
Yu Chen
⇑
, Xuming Fang
Provincial Key Lab of Information Coding and Transmission, Southwest Jiaotong University, Chengdu, Sichuan 610031, PR China
article info
Article history:
Received 7 March 2012
Received in revised form 3 July 2012
Accepted 6 July 2012
Available online 17 July 2012
Keywords:
Energy-efficient
Resource allocation
Opportunistic network coding
Relay
OFDMA
abstract
Network coding is significantly able to save system resources for wireless networks, and has
been widely studied for the 802.11 wireless local area network and traditional cellular net-
works. The relay technology was introduced in 802.16j, 802.16m, and Long Term Evolution-
Advanced (LTE-A) standards. Recently, the application of network coding to multi-hop wire-
less relay networks has been taken into consideration. Although the introduction of relay sta-
tions (RSs) may bring more energy consumption, it provides opportunities for network
coding to save spectrum resources. Nevertheless, the benefits of network coding are dimin-
ished by high multiuser diversity based on orthogonal frequency division multiple access
(OFDMA). For ensuring the superiority, network coding is performed opportunistically
according to the channel state. Hence dynamic resource allocation (DRA) subject to rate con-
straints is combined with the idea of opportunistic network coding to minimize the total
transmission power in a frame. A fixed set of discrete modulation levels in an OFDMA relay
system is also considered. By taking the characteristic of a half-duplex decode-and-forward
(DF) mode relay, a solution is proposed for the optimal problem of each subframe after sep-
arating power-aware relay selection. Simulation results show that DRA with opportunistic
network coding can improve system energy efficiency. Further, it is more efficient for saving
energy than DRA with static network coding compared solely to DRA.
Ó 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
1. Introduction
Orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA)
is a key technology of the next generation. In an OFDMA
system, a suitable frequency can be selected to implement
user diversity. However, with the wide application of multi-
media services, broader signal coverage, higher data
transmission rates, and faster mobility are required in the
next generation of mobile communication systems. With
the existing cellular systems without relay stations (RSs),
it has been difficult to satisfy the current service require-
ments. In order to not change the deployment of cellular
systems, the relay technology was introduced in 802.16j,
802.16m, and Long Term Evolution-Advanced (LTE-A) stan-
dards to guarantee current services requirements.
With the emergence of ‘‘green communication’’ and
‘‘energy conservation and emission reduction’’, energy-sav-
ing in wireless networks becomes a challenge. Originally,
relay station is introduced in the next generation network
due to enhancing network coverage and improving bound-
ary capacity. However the energy consumption in relay
system is still severe. The energy-efficiency problem in
the relay system is more complex comparing with the net-
work without RSs, and it becomes a focus of the current re-
search. Meanwhile, due to introduction of RSs, it also
provides an opportunity for network coding applications.
Network coding was originally used in wired net-
works, however it is currently being applied to wireless
1389-1286/$ - see front matter Ó 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.comnet.2012.07.002
⇑
Corresponding author. Tel.: +86 139 8220 9243.
E-mail addresses: cherry1593@163.com (Y. Chen), xmfang@swjtu.
edu.cn (X. Fang).
Computer Networks 56 (2012) 3446–3455
Contents lists available at SciVerse ScienceDirect
Computer Networks
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/comnet