A Generalized Framework for Distributed Power Control in Wireless Networks

Most power control algorithms that aim at hitting a signal-to-interference ratio (SIR) target fall within Yates' framework. However, for delay-tolerable applications, it is unnecessary to maintain the SIR at a certain level all the time. To maximize throughput, one should increase one's power when the interference level is low, and the information transmission rate is adjusted accordingly by adaptive modulation and coding techniques. This approach is called opportunistic communications. In this paper, we generalize Yates' result and establish a new framework, which is applicable to systems supporting opportunistic communications and with heterogeneous service requirements. Simulation results show that our proposed algorithm yields significant improvement in throughput when compared with the conventional target tracking approach.