Distributed Resource Block Allocation for Wideband Cell-Free System

This paper studies distributed resource block (RB) allocation in wideband orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM) cell-free systems. We propose a novel distributed sequential algorithm which optimizes RB allocation based on the information obtained through over-the-air (OTA) transmissions between access points (APs) and user equipments, enabling local decision updates at each AP. To reduce the overhead of OTA transmission, we further develop a clustering-based variant of the proposed algorithm and a distributed deep learning (DL)-based method for optimizing RB allocation. Simulation results demonstrate that the proposed distributed algorithms perform close to the centralized algorithm, while the DL-based method outperforms existing baseline methods.