An Efficient Adaptive Modulation Scheme for Wireless OFDM Systems

An adaptive modulation scheme is presented for multiuser orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing systems. The aim of the scheme is to minimize the total transmit power with a constraint on the transmission rate for users, assuming knowledge of the instantaneous channel gains for all users using a combined bit-loading and subcarrier allocation algorithm. The subcarrier allocation algorithm identifies the appropriate assignment of subcarriers to the users, while the bit-loading algorithm determines the number of bits given to each subcarrier. The proposed bit-loading algorithm is derived from the geometric progression of the additional transmission power required by the subcarriers and the arithmetic-geometric means inequality. This algorithm has a simple procedure and low computational complexity. A heuristic approach is also used for the subcarrier allocation algorithm, providing a trade-off between complexity and performance. Numerical results demonstrate that the proposed algorithms provide comparable performance with existing algorithms with low computational cost.