MuPAC: A new multi-power architecture for capacity enhancement in cellular networks

Abstract

We have considered the problem of providing greater throughput in cellular networks. We propose a novel packet data cellular architecture, the Multi-Power Architecture for Cellular networks (MuPAC), based on multi-hop relaying with multiple channels. MuPAC has the unique capability of providing a coarse grained frequency reuse factor that contributes to its enhanced throughput. MuPAC utilizes multi-hop wireless relaying in the presence of the infrastructure nodes such as base station (BS) in order to provide a very high network capacity. Multiple data channels each of which is designated to operate at a different transmission power are used in order to provide a coarse grained frequency reuse factor. MuPAC also includes solutions to problems faced in multi-hop networks: performance degradation at high mobility, partitions, etc. MuPAC provides increased throughput compared to existing schemes such as the current day cellular systems which can be classified as single-hop cellular network (SCN), and the recently proposed multi-hop cellular network (MCN). We provide an analytical treatment of MuPAC to support its superiority over SCN and MCN. We also show using extensive simulations, that MuPAC performs well over a range of node densities, under high mobility, varying traffic generation characteristics and also improves fairness across a cell.