Fronthaul-aware User Association in 5G Heterogeneous Cloud Radio Access Networks: A Matching Game Perspective

In this paper, the user association process in 5G Heterogeneous Cloud Radio Access Networks (H-CRAN) with wireless fronthaul links is developed. The association process is formulated as a combinatorial optimization problem to maximize the total network throughput while considering the users' QoS requirements as well as the capacity constraints of the wireless fronthaul links. Based on well-defined utility functions for users and Remote Radio Heads (RRHs) in H-CRAN, a two-sided matching game-based algorithm is developed to get the optimum user association solution. Following the association process, an additional radio channel distribution phase based on water-falling algorithm is developed to distribute the remaining radio channels on the associated users and hence improving their achieved throughput. Simulation results validate the superiority of the proposed association algorithm especially in terms of users' achievable data rate as well as the access rate performance.