Joint pricing and power control for OFDMA femtocell networks using stackelberg game

In this paper we formulate to resolve the distributed power control problem in the two-tier OFDMA femtocell networks. The network structure is comprised of the macrocells and each macrocell is further underlaid with several femtocells. The problem is formulated as a Stackelberg game with the macrocell base stations as the leaders and the femtocell access points as the followers in order to obtain the utility maximization of them. Then, the Stackelberg equilibrium for the proposed game is evaluated. It is established to exist and be unique under the proposition of an effective distributed interference price bargaining algorithm. Experimental results show that the proposed power control scheme is effective in improving the outage and throughput performance of macrocell users while the effects on femtocell users are acceptable.