Optimal channel assignment and power allocation for dual-hop multi-channel multi-user relaying

We consider the problem of jointly optimizing channel pairing, channel-user assignment, and power allocation in a single-relay multiple-access system. The optimization objective is to maximize the weighted sum-rate under total and individual power constraints on the transmitters. By observing the special structure of a three-dimensional assignment problem derived from the original problem, we propose a polynomial-time algorithm based on continuity relaxation and dual minimization. The proposed method is shown to be optimal for all relaying strategies that give a concave rate function in terms of power constraints.