Uplink resource allocation in SC-FDMA wireless networks: A survey and taxonomy

SC-FDMA has been selected by the Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) Long Term Evolution (LTE) and LTE Advanced (LTE-A), as the primary multiple access scheme for the uplink of the 4 G wireless communication systems. This article surveys the different state-of-the-art resource allocation algorithms developed to allocate system's subcarriers and users’ transmission powers in the uplink of SC-FDMA wireless networks. An objective-driven classification approach is followed where the various resource allocation algorithms are categorized into four major classes based on the ultimate goal/objective of the resource allocation process, as follows: (i) throughput optimization, (ii) fairness, (iii) satisfaction of users’ QoS requirements, and (iv) joint power and subcarriers allocation. The article summarizes the activities and recent advances on this work-in-progress area, highlights the key features, advantages and disadvantages of each algorithm, and provides a detailed qualitative comparative evaluation of their attributes and characteristics according to several distinct features. Furthermore, it provides some indicative numerical results that better present and quantify the objective and achieved performance of the various algorithms. Finally the problem of resource allocation is discussed, when multicell environment is considered, where issues such as intercell interference mitigation and backhaul rate constraints pose additional challenges.