Joint Interference Management and Power Allocation for Relay-Assisted Smart Grid Communications

In this article, we study an interference management and power allocation problem when electrical power communication (EPC) networks are densely deployed in the coverage of licensed networks. The purpose is to reduce the electricity cost and improve the licensed operator's profit subject to the quality-of-service (QoS) of licensed users (LUs). First, the electricity cost is modeled based on the Taguchi loss function, which links the cost to the communication errors in the EPC networks. The operator's profit is formulated by introducing a bonus-penalty mechanism, and a rational interference threshold (IT) of the licensed base station (LBS) is set to ensure the QoS of the LU. Second, we formulate the interference management and power allocation problem as a Stackelberg game, and a successive convex approximation algorithm is used to solve this problem to achieve the optimal IT and relay power. The simulation results indicate that the cost to the utility company is reduced and the profit of the LBS increases.