Distributed Protocols for Interference Management in Cooperative Networks

TL;DR

This paper develops a systematic method for designing distributed cooperative protocols in networks with limited relay information, balancing local cooperation gains against potential network-wide spatial reuse losses.

Contribution

It introduces a binary network model and a computational framework for creating cooperative protocols based on the level of network information at relays.

Findings

Protocols effectively improve network performance with limited relay information.

The model simplifies protocol design by focusing on network state availability.

Simulation results validate the approach across various network scenarios.

Abstract

In scenarios where devices are too small to support MIMO antenna arrays, symbol-level cooperation may be used to pool the resources of distributed single-antenna devices to create a virtual MIMO antenna array. We address design fundamentals for distributed cooperative protocols where relays have an incomplete view of network information. A key issue in distributed networks is potential loss in spatial reuse due to the increased radio footprint of flows with cooperative relays. Hence, local gains from cooperation have to balance against network level losses. By using a novel binary network model that simplifies the space over which cooperative protocols must be designed, we develop a mechanism for the systematic and computational development of cooperative protocols as functions of the amount of network state information available at relay nodes. Through extensive network analysis and simulations, we demonstrate the successful application of this method to a series of protocols that span a range of network information availability at cooperative relays.