The aim of this thesis is to design, implement and evaluate practical cross-layer algorithms. We focus on LTE and post-LTE uncoordinated networks where interference is a key issue given the new traffic patterns. The goal is to allocate the radio resources in an efficient way. We develop mathematical and computational interference models that allow us to understand the behavior of such networks and we apply an information-theoretic approach to different interference scenarios and traffic characteristics. We have tried to remain as close as possible to practical systems to be able to test the feasibility of the proposed techniques.
The thesis deals with performance evaluation of interference scenarios in 4G networks, in particular those arising from small-cell deployments. The work in this thesis also deals with analysis of resource-allocation and incremental-redundancy based hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) for bursty interference (or more general time-varying channels) which allows for only partial channel state information at the transmitter. The work is then applied to practical scheduler design for LTE base stations and includes performance analysis for real LTE modems.
