Radio Resource Allocation in Heterogeneous Wireless Networks Using Cooperative Games

Next generation wireless networks are expected to be heterogeneous consisting of several wireless technologies including, but not limited to, UMTS, GPRS, Satellite and WLAN networks. These networks provide bandwidths that range from tenth hundreds of Kbits/sec provided by technologies such as GPRS, to tens of Mbits/sec provided by Broadband wireless LANs such 802.11a. Here we study the problem of resource allocations in heterogeneous wireless networks, where the demand for bandwidth is growing at an enormous rate. Wireless networks may cooperate either because they can not deal with resource allocation demands alone or because they can reduce their cost by working together. We formulate our approach as an optimization problem that allocates resources to mobile users and maximizes benefits for networks. In addition, we employ an exponential cost function to balance load across multiple heterogeneous networks. A resource allocation model made of the three wireless networks and a user is presented. Cooperative game-theory concepts are used to identify stable resource allocations, under which all three networks find it beneficial to cooperate. The results suggest that an allocation that maximizes revenues exists, which makes this cooperation attractive to all networks.