Joint Resource Allocation for Parallel Multi-Radio Access in Heterogeneous Wireless Networks

Heterogeneous wireless networks where several systems with different bands coexist for multimedia service are currently in service and will be widely adopted to support various traffic demand. Under heterogeneous networks, a mobile station can transmit over multiple and simultaneous radio access technologies (RATs) such as WLAN, HSPA, and WCDMA LTE. Also, cognitive radio for the efficient use of underutilized/unused frequency band is successfully implemented in some networks. In this letter, we address such operational issues as air interface and band selection for a mobile and power allocation to the chosen links. An optimal solution is sought and analyzed and a distributed joint allocation algorithm is proposed to maximize total system capacity. We investigate the benefit of multiple transmissions by multiple RATs over a single transmission by a single RAT at a time, which can be interpreted as network diversity. Numerical results validate the performance enhancement of our proposed algorithm.