Nash Bargaining Game for Cooperative Resource Allocation in Underwater Acoustic Communication

This paper investigates the resource allocation in an Underwater acoustic (UWA) system based on game theory tools: cooperative and non cooperative games. In fact, cooperation game can help reducing potential conflicts related to competition for resources. However, by cooperating together, users can avoid unnecessary confrontations and competitions, thus promoting better communication and more peaceful use of resources. This paper focuses on UWA systems using Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) in interference channels and introduces a cooperative power allocation strategy. First, in order to enhance the overall utility function of the system, the proposed mathematical problem is considered as a game, in order to 1) facilitate effective communication, 2)analyze balancing scenarios, and 3)model interactions among multiple users, particularly in complex environments. Second, the Resource Allocation (RA) problem is investigated to optimize the system’s efficiency, where an iterative technique based on Nash Bargaining (NB) principles is proposed. Therefore, a comparative analysis of the spectral efficiency achieved by users employing a cooperative strategy versus a non-cooperative approach is proposed in terms of simulations.