Conference Paper

Cell-free networks exploit the spatial diversity of multiple Access Points (APs), but at the cost of high signaling overhead and network complexity, which limits scalability. To overcome this challenge, we propose a joint beamforming and power allocation scheme integrated with an eigen-subspace based AP selection algorithm. For each user, the method activates and allocates power only from the most effective APs, thereby indirectly optimizing beamforming vectors while ensuring the required Quality of Service (QoS). This reduces the number of active links, and signalling requirements. We analyse the tradeoff between spectral efficiency, power consumption and network complexity by comparing scenarios where all APs transmit versus when only a subset of them are active.