Relay-assisted Wireless Research Articles

A Partial Compress-and-Forward Strategy for Relay-Assisted Wireless Networks Based on Rateless Coding

A Partial Compress-and-Forward Strategy for Relay-Assisted Wireless Networks Based on Rateless Coding

On the Performance of Decode-and-Forward Equal-Gain-Combining Relay Systems over Weibull Fading Channels

Relay-assisted wireless communications, where both the relay and the final destiny employ diversity-combining techniques, represent a compelling strategy for improving the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) for mobile terminals, mainly at millimeter-wave (mmWave) frequency bands. In this sense, this work considers a wireless network that employs a dual-hop decode-and-forward (DF) relaying protocol, in which the receivers at the relay and at the base station (BS) use an antenna array. Moreover, it is considered that the received signals are combined at reception using equal-gain-combining (EGC). Recent works have enthusiastically employed the Weibull distribution so as to emulate the small-scale fading behavior in mmWave frequencies, which also motivates its use in the present work. For this scenario, exact and asymptotic expressions for the system's outage probability (OP) and average bit error probability (ABEP) are derived in closed form. Useful insights are gained from these expressions. More precisely, they illustrate how the system and fading parameters affect the performance of the DF-EGC system. Monte Carlo simulations corroborate the accuracy and validity of the derived expressions. Furthermore, the mean achievable rate of the considered system is also evaluated via simulations. Useful insights regarding the system performance are obtained from these numerical results.

Relay-Assisted Wireless Energy Transfer for Efficient Spectrum Sharing in Harsh Environments

Relay-Assisted Wireless Energy Transfer for Efficient Spectrum Sharing in Harsh Environments

Age-Aware Utility Maximization in Relay-Assisted Wireless Powered Communication Networks.

This article investigates a relay-assisted wireless powered communication network (WPCN), where the access point (AP) inspires the auxiliary nodes to participate together in charging the sensor, and then the sensor uses its harvested energy to send status update packets to the AP. An incentive mechanism is designed to overcome the selfishness of the auxiliary node. In order to further improve the system performance, we establish a Stackelberg game to model the efficient cooperation between the AP–sensor pair and auxiliary node. Specifically, we formulate two utility functions for the AP–sensor pair and the auxiliary node, and then formulate two maximization problems respectively. As the former problem is non-convex, we transform it into a convex problem by introducing an extra slack variable, and then by using the Lagrangian method, we obtain the optimal solution with closed-form expressions. Numerical experiments show that the larger the transmit power of the AP, the smaller the age of information (AoI) of the AP–sensor pair and the less the influence of the location of the auxiliary node on AoI. In addition, when the distance between the AP and the sensor node exceeds a certain threshold, employing the relay can achieve better AoI performance than non-relaying systems.

Joint Beamforming Optimization for the Intelligent Reflecting Surface Assisted Wireless Surveillance System

The intelligent reflecting surface (IRS), which consists of a large number of reflecting units, can adjust the phase shifts of its reflecting units to strengthen the desired signal and/or suppress the undesired signal. In this paper, we consider an IRS-assisted wireless surveillance system where an IRS is deployed to assist the legal surveillance receiver E to monitor the information transmission of the suspicious link from AP to the suspicious receiver B. Two communication scenarios assuming whether the suspicious link is aware of the existence of the monitor are considered. The optimization problem under the constraint that the achievable rate at the monitor E is larger than that at the suspicious receiver B is proposed to jointly optimize the beamforming vector at the AP and the phase shift matrix at the IRS to maximize the achievable eavesdropping rate. To solve this non-convex problem, we introduce the semi-definite relaxation (SDR) approach and the alternating optimization (AO) method to convert the non-convex optimization problem to a series of semi-definite programs (SDPs) and solve the SDPs iteratively. Simulation results show that the assistance of IRS can greatly improve the performance of the surveillance, and achieves significant advantages over the traditional relay-assisted wireless surveillance system.

Secure Multiuser Scheduling for Hybrid Relay-Assisted Wireless Powered Cooperative Communication Networks With Full-Duplex Destination-Based Jamming

In this paper, we investigate secure communication in a hybrid relay (HR)-assisted wireless powered cooperative communication network (WPCCN), where an eavesdropper tries to intercept the data transmitted by a source user and the HR simultaneously. The HR has the ability to wireless powered the energy-constrained multiple users in the downlink and to relay the received confidential information in the uplink. In particular, the full-duplex destination-based jamming (FD-DBJ) strategy is exploited to improve the secrecy performance. Moreover, in order to conduct effective secure communications, we design two multiuser scheduling schemes, i.e., random user selection (RUS), and best user selection (BUS) based on the main channel quality. In order to evaluate the secrecy performance, we analytically derive the energy outage probability (EOP), the secrecy outage probability (SOP), and the hybrid outage probability (HOP), respectively. As such, we formulate the secrecy throughput (ST) maximization problem to optimize the predetermined transmission rate. Our analysis and numerical results reveal that: 1) The BUS scheme has better security performance. 2) Both of the energy conversion efficiency and the number of users have a positive effect on secrecy performance. 3) The FD-DBJ scheme is an effective method to achieve secure communications. 4) The time-switching factor and predetermined transmission rate have a crucial influence on the secrecy performance, which should be considered carefully in system design.

Short-Packet Physical-Layer Network Coding

This paper explores the application of physical-layer network coding (PNC) for short-packet transmissions. PNC can potentially reduce the communication delay in relay-assisted wireless networks and can thus be instrumental in realizing short-packet communication systems with stringent delay requirements. In this work, first, we first derive an achievability bound for channel-coded short-packet PNC systems. Based on the random-coding error-exponent, the bound serves as a benchmark for short-packet PNC operating with traditional preamble-aided channel estimation and XOR channel decoding. Second, we design a blind channel estimation algorithm and a code-aided channel estimation algorithm for short-packet PNC systems. Both outperform the traditional preamble-aided channel estimation for PNC systems operating with mismatched channel-state-information. As a case study, we compare the three algorithms for packets of 128 symbols over a two-way relay channel. The results show that the blind algorithm outperforms the code-aided algorithm and preamble-aided algorithm by almost 0.2 and 1.5 dB respectively. Furthermore, the blind algorithm achieves the target packet error rate of 10 <sup xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">-4</sup> within 0.5 dB of the random coding bound of an imaginary system in which perfect channel-state-information is available at the relay at no cost (i.e., channel estimation is not required in the imaginary system). The bound and the algorithms give us a fundamental framework for applying PNC to short-packet transmissions.

On the Relationship Between Relay and Infrastructure Densities in Geometrically Bounded Relay-Assisted Wireless Networks

In this paper, we study the connectivity between two fixed terminal nodes within a geometrically bounded network of relay nodes and fixed infrastructure nodes. We assume that a communication path, between the terminal nodes, can be established by direct connection (1-hop), via a relay node (2-hop) or via the infrastructure network; the choice is based on link viability in a Rayleigh fading environment. We adopt a probabilistic approach to our analysis considering a homogeneous spatial distribution of relay nodes and an inhomogeneous spatial distribution of infrastructure nodes. Our analysis of the relationship between relay and infrastructure densities for a prescribed outage probability shows that reliance on infrastructure connectivity can be appreciably reduced by employing direct and 2-hop connectivity. We further show that, as the relay density increases, optimum connectivity is achieved by employing a non uniform spatial thinning of the infrastructure, which is dependent upon the geometric extent of the network. Our analysis provides an insight into multi-mode connectivity in bounded network domains and has application in many fields including cellular and vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2X), which are often modelled as having finite extent and where reducing the reliance on fixed infrastructure can effectively reduce operating expenditure costs.

Channel model proposal for indoor relay‐assisted power line communications

Due to its tree-like topology, the point-to-point (P2P) indoor power line communication (PLC) channel exhibits a similar broadcasting property as the wireless propagation channel shows. However, after relay nodes are introduced, the relay-assisted PLC (RaPLC) channel shows some notable differences compared with its wireless counterpart. A lot of results about the relay-assisted wireless channel can be found in the literature, but the work of modelling RaPLC channel has rarely been discussed in detail. As the first attempt to fill this gap, we apply the ABCD method to compute the channel transfer function (CTF) of the RaPLC channel. It has been clarified that, in general, the CTF of RaPLC channel cannot be obtained as a cascade of two independent P2P PLC sub-channels located on two sides of the relay node. Also, it is shown that the challenge of generating CTF of the RaPLC channel can be transformed into a group of equivalent P2P PLC channel modelling tasks. Under the time-division duplexing constraint, the relay node changes its working mode from the receiving phase to the transmitting phase, which shows that the RaPLC channel is abruptly time-varying in nature. Following the hybrid bottom-up approach, a statistical channel model with a simple six-segment indoor power grid topology has been developed for simulation. Practical measurements and numerical examples verify our results.

On Effective Capacity and Effective Energy Efficiency in Relay-Assisted Wireless Networks

The tremendous proliferation of smart phones and other smart devices has spurred the explosive growth of delay-sensitive high-rate multimedia services, which significantly increases energy consumption in wireless cellular networks. Therefore, it is an important yet challenging issue to carry out resource allocation for cellular networks to meet the quality of service requirement in terms of high data rate and, at the same time, achieve high energy efficiency. In this paper, two resource allocation approaches are proposed, where user selection and power allocation are jointly considered, to maximize effective capacity (EC) and effective energy efficiency (EEE), respectively, for a relay-assisted downlink of cellular networks. Channel estimation errors are taken into account to make the proposed approaches more practical. Moreover, to solve the EC maximization problem efficiently, we develop an optimal algorithm based on Lagrange method and Karush–Kuhn–Tucker conditions, and derive closed-form optimal solutions for user selection and power allocation at both the base station and relays. For the EEE maximization problem, an iterative algorithm based on the Dinkelbach method is developed to find the optimal solutions. Theoretical analysis and simulation results are presented to demonstrate the performance of the proposed approaches in terms of EC, EEE, and delay bound violation probability.

Distortion minimization for relay assisted wireless multicast

The paper studies the scenario of wireless multicast with a single transmitter and a relay that deliver scalable source symbols to the receivers in a decode-and-forward (DF) fashion. With the end-to-end mean square error distortion (EED) as performance metric, we firstly derive the EED expression for the L-resolution scalable source symbol for any receiver. An optimization problem in minimizing the weighted EED is then formulated for finding the power allocations for all resolution layers at the transmitter and the relay. Due to nonlinearity of the formulations, we solve the formulated optimization problems using a generalized programming algorithm for obtaining good sub-optimal solutions. Case studies are conducted to verify the proposed formulations and solution approaches. The results demonstrate the advantages of the proposed strategies in the relay-assisted wireless networks for scalable source multicast.

Performance Characterization of Relay-Assisted Wireless Optical CDMA Networks in Turbulent Underwater Channel

In this paper, we characterize the performance of relay-assisted underwater wireless optical code division multiple access (OCDMA) networks over turbulent channels. In addition to scattering and absorption effects of underwater channels, we also consider optical turbulence as a log-normal fading coefficient in our analysis. To simultaneously and asynchronously share medium among many users, we assign a unique optical orthogonal code (OOC) to each user in order to actualize OCDMA-based underwater network. The most significant challenge in underwater optical communication is in the ability to extend the short range of its coverage. In order to expand the viable communication range, we consider multi-hop transmission to the destination. Moreover, we evaluate the performance of a relay-assisted point-to-point UWOC system as a special case of the proposed relay-assisted OCDMA network. Our numerical results indicate significant performance improvement by employing intermediate relays, e.g., one can achieve 32 dB improvement in the bit error rate (BER) of $\text{10}^\text{-6}$ using only a dual-hop transmission in a 90 m point-to-point clear ocean link.

Secure Communications in the Presence of a Buffer-Aided Wireless-Powered Relay With Self-Energy Recycling

We consider a relay-assisted wireless network, where the energy-harvesting buffer-aided relay node is powered by radio-frequency signals from a source node wishing to communicate with its destination. We propose two secure cooperative protocols for a network composed of a source node equipped with a data buffer communicating with its destination in the presence of a buffer-aided relay node and an eavesdropper. Our proposed protocols are designed based on the channel state information and the buffer state information at the source and relay nodes. The burstiness of data at the source node queue (buffer) and the energy recycling process at the relay are taken into account in our analysis. In addition, we take the decoding and signal processing circuit power consumption constraints into consideration. For the limiting case of an infinite-size battery at the relay, we derive a sufficient condition for the energy queue to saturate. Our numerical results demonstrate the throughput gains of our proposed protocols.

Topology optimisation‐based distributed estimation in relay assisted wireless sensor networks

This study studies a distributed estimation problem in relay assisted wireless sensor networks (WSNs). Different from most existing works, the network consists of two kinds of nodes, that is, sensor nodes (SNs) which is capable of sensing and computing and relay nodes (RNs), which is only capable of simple data aggregation. The problem of how to coordinate two kinds of nodes to facilitate distributed estimation is challenging because of their heterogeneous capability. The authors first develop a min-weighted rigid graph-based topology optimisation scheme to reduce the redundancy of communication links such that the energy consumption in the relay assisted WSN can be reduced. With the optimised topology, a consensus-based estimation algorithm is proposed for SNs and RNs, respectively. The asymptotic unbiasedness and consistency of the estimation algorithm are analysed in the presence of measurement and communication noises. The proposed method is applied to estimate the distribution of slab temperature in the hot rolling process. It is demonstrated that the topology optimisation reduces communication energy consumption, while the deployment of RNs improves temperature estimation accuracy as compared to a homogeneous WSN with SNs only.

Joint Optimization of Source Precoding and Relay Beamforming in Wireless MIMO Relay Networks

This paper considers joint linear processing at multi-antenna sources and one multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) relay station for both one-way and two-way relay-assisted wireless communications. The one-way relaying is applicable in the scenario of downlink transmission by a multi-antenna base station to multiple single-antenna users with the help of one MIMO relay. In such a scenario, the objective of join linear processing is to maximize the information throughput to users. The design problem is equivalently formulated as the maximization of the worst signal-to-interference-plus-noise ratio (SINR) among all users subject to various transmission power constraints. Such a program of nonconvex objective minimization under nonconvex constraints is transformed to a canonical d.c. (difference of convex functions/sets) program of d.c. function optimization under convex constraints through nonconvex duality with zero duality gap. An efficient iterative algorithm is then applied to solve this canonical d.c program. For the scenario of using one MIMO relay to assist two sources exchanging their information in two-way relying manner, the joint linear processing aims at either minimizing the maximum mean square error (MSE) or maximizing the total information throughput of the two sources. By applying tractable optimization for the linear minimum MSE estimator and d.c. programming, an iterative algorithm is developed to solve these two optimization problems. Extensive simulation results demonstrate that the proposed methods substantially outperform previously-known joint optimization methods.

Relay-Assisted Wireless Communication Systems in Mining Vehicle Safety Applications

Relays enabled with multiuser MIMO techniques have great potential to mining vehicle safety applications. However, they are yet to be practical due to high scheduling overhead in mobile, radio-unfriendly, mining environments. A new decentralized relay-assisted multiuser MIMO approach is proposed, which cuts the overhead by 80% and enables relay-assisted multiuser MIMO to be implemented in practice. This approach is a new distributed participatory downlink transmission method, where both the relays and destinations participate in the scheduling decisions. A new recursive algorithm is also developed to optimally quantize the channel conditions of the vehicles, thereby minimizing the feedback requirement. Analytical results, confirmed by simulations, show that the proposed approach is able to achieve 97.6% of the sum-rate upper bound of the network, using only three bits to characterize the channel condition of each vehicle. In terms of throughput, the proposed decentralized scheme can perform 45.2% better than the existing centralized scheme. The proposed approach is compatible with industrial communication standards and can be implemented with commercial industrial communication systems.

Relay-Assisted Rateless Layered Multiple Description Video Delivery

Multiple description coding (MDC) has been proposed as a possible solution to real-time video delivery over relay-assisted wireless networks to exploit path diversity. In this paper, we study layered multiple description video over relay-assisted mobile networks, such as LTE-A, and develop a framework that routes packets to different relays based on source-channel-relay parameters. The proposed system comprises, besides layered MDC, (i) application-layer forward error correction via Random linear codes (RLC) that are very suitable in the relaying scenarios, due to their rateless nature, (ii) unequal error protection (UEP), using the recently proposed expanding window technique, that relies on probabilistic scheduling of layered packets. We generate layered multiple descriptions using data slicing and data partitioning features of H.264/AVC and conduct simulations by modelling a two-relay LTE-A setup with the finite state Markov chain model. Simulation results show benefits of relaying with optimized routing and UEP.

Throughput and Stability for Relay-Assisted Wireless Broadcast with Network Coding

The throughput and stability properties of wireless network coding are evaluated for an arbitrary number of terminals exchanging broadcast traffic with the aid of a relay. First, coding and scheduling schemes are derived that minimize the number of transmissions needed for each node to broadcast one packet. For stochastically varying traffic, the stable throughput is then compared under both digital and analog network coding schemes. The initial analysis focuses on a network with a single relay. Extensions to arbitrary terminal-relay configurations are then outlined for a general multihop network. Backpressure-like algorithms for jointly achieving throughput optimal scheduling and network coding are given for each network coding scheme.

Quantization and Bit Allocation for Channel State Feedback in Relay-Assisted Wireless Networks

This paper investigates quantization of channel state information (CSI) and bit allocation across wireless links in a multi-source, single-relay cooperative cellular network. Our goal is to minimize the loss in performance, measured as the achievable sum rate, due to limited-rate quantization of CSI. We develop both a channel quantization scheme and allocation of limited feedback bits to the various wireless links. We assume that the quantized CSI is reported to a central node responsible for optimal resource allocation. We first derive tight lower and upper bounds on the difference in rates between the perfect CSI and quantized CSI scenarios. These bounds are then used to derive an effective quantizer for arbitrary channel distributions. Next, we use these bounds to optimize the allocation of bits across the links subject to a budget on total available quantization bits. In particular, we show that the optimal bit allocation algorithm allocates more bits to those links in the network that contribute the most to the sum-rate. Finally, the paper investigates the choice of the central node; we show that this choice plays a significant role in CSI bits required to achieve a target performance level.

음영 지역을 위한 3-슬롯 기반의 AF 방식 중계기 네트워크에서의 단일 반송파 주파수 대역 등화 기법

셀 커버리지 확대 및 음영 지역 해소를 위하여 중계기를 활용하는 이동 통신 시스템이 널리 연구되고 있다. 본 논문에서는 음영 지역 성능 개선을 위하여 AF(amplify-and-forward) 방식 중계기를 활용하여 다중 경로가 확보된 네트워크에서의 SC-FDE(single carrier-frequency domain equalizer)를 위한 등화 기법을 제안한다. 3-슬롯 기반 다중 경로 상황에서 중계기를 통해 수신된 신호를 MRC (maximum ratio combining) 방식으로 합쳐 MMSE (minimum mean square error) 등화 기법을 적용하면 다이버시티 이득을 획득하여 SC-FDE 시스템의 수신 성능을 크게 향상시킬 수 있다. 이를 위하여, AF 방식 중계기 기반의 다중 경로 네트워크에서 SC-FDE를 위한 MRC 계수 및 MMSE 등화 탭의 수식을 정확히 도출하여 제시하고, 실험 결과를 통해 성능 향상을 확인한다. In order to extend cell coverage and to cope with shadow areas, a relay-assisted wireless communications system has been widely studied. In this paper, we propose new equalization method for single carrier (SC) frequency domain equalizer (FDE) in amplify-and-forward (AF) relaying multi-path networks to improve the performance at shadow areas. The performance of SC-FDE system in 3-slot based multi-path networks can be improved considerably with the diversity gain which we obtain by equalizing the combined signal from relays by means of the minimum mean square error (MMSE) criteria. We find the weighting coefficients of maximum ratio combining (MRC) and the tap coefficients of MMSE equalizer for SC-FDE in AF relaying multi-path networks. Simulation results show that the proposed system considerably outperforms the conventional SC-FDE system.