Optimal transmission methodology for QoS provision of multi-hop cellular network

In this paper, we present a framework of link capacity analysis for optimal transmission over uplink MCN (Multi-hop Cellular Network) environments. An overlaid architecture is employed as the network topology, i.e., single-hop transmission over the inner region and multi-hop transmission over the outer region. In particular, we analyzed the gain that accrued from grafting a relay method onto a conventional, SCN (Single-hop Cellular Network) and investigated the conditions for optimal performance through the numerical results. At high-user density, a MCN exhibits a much more reliable transmission than the SCN. For maximal link capacity, optimal region partitioning is approximately accomplished at the normalized cell radius of 0.6 in most of cases for region division. Finally, the link capacity can be improved 1.2–1.8 times better than the SCN when the number of relay hops is 1.6 and the half-duplex mechanism is used. In addition, the proposed MCN scheme demonstrates an effective reduction in transmission power relative to the SCN.