Resource allocation for multicarrier communications

Multicarrier transmission schemes have been widely adopted in wireless communication systems. Multiple users can share a multicarrier channel using multiple access mechanisms such as OFDMA or MC-CDMA. This dissertation studies some unique features of multicarrier transmission and how these effect the performance of a multiple access system. Analytical expressions are, derived for the effect of frequency offset error on MC-CDMA. Algorithms are derived for resource allocation in static and dynamic OFDMA systems.; Signal degradation due to frequency offset is one of the main problems in multicarrier communication. This dissertation presents analytical expressions for the expected drop in signal to interference and noise ratio (SINR) experienced in an uplink MC-CDMA system.; In an orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA) system users are assigned different carriers instead of sharing them. Optimal algorithms for frequency allocation are found to be computationally demanding. In this dissertation a new class of algorithms is proposed which achieves the users' QoS objectives while keeping transmission power low compared to existing algorithms and at lower computational cost.; In a dynamic system, users can enter and exit the cell at any time. This dissertation presents an analysis of the issue of "fairness" in an OFDMA system, and introduces two online nonpreemptive scheduling algorithms.