RESOURCE ALLOCATION IN RADIO COMMUNICATIONS

A radio transmitter is configured to operate in accordance with a first predetermined OFDM radio protocol. The transmitter reserves, within a timeslot with a predetermined timeslot duration, a reserved set of time-frequency resource units not available for an OFDM data channel defined by the first protocol. The transmitter allocates, within the timeslot, an allocated set of R time-frequency resource units for the OFDM data channel defined by the first protocol, wherein a number M of time-frequency resource units are included in both the allocated set and the reserved set, wherein the value R is such that R>N and R−M≤N, where N is a predetermined maximum number of time-frequency resource units that can be used to carry the data channel. The transmitter then transmits data indicative of the allocated set of R time-frequency resource units and data indicative of the reserved set of time-frequency resource units.