Performance impact of relay selection in WiMAX IEEE 802.16j multi-hop relay networks

Abstract

Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access network accepts the challenge of last mile wireless access for internet. IEEE 802.16 standard, commercially known as WiMAX provide wireless broadband experience to the end subscribers and challenges many wired solutions like Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) and cable internet. Wireless network has many inherent issues like coverage holes; capacity optimization and mobility are few of them. Adding relays to multi-hop WiMAX IEEE 802.16j network present an effective solution to address them to some extent but this amendment does not elaborate any algorithm regarding the relay selection and narrate no performance guarantees. In this work, we proposed linear model that fairly allocates wireless resources among subscribers in 802.16j network. A relay selection algorithm is also presented to optimally select nodes with higher signal-to-noise ratio as relay station for nodes with lower signal-to-noise ratio objectively maximize overall network capacity. This scheme further extends network coverage area and improves network availability. We also did extensive performance evaluation of the proposed linear model. Results show that optimal relays selection scheme do provide a substantial increase of up to 66% in overall network capacity in the fixed WiMAX network. This improvement is substantial at places where network condition is not optimal. Investigating the problem further leads to the conclusion that the relay selection criterion is the key to achieve maximum network capacity.