Optimal effective capacity for cooperative relay networks with QoS guarantees

In this paper, we propose a resource allocation scheme to maximize the system throughput subject to the queue overflow Quality-of-Service (QoS) requirement for wireless cooperative networks. Specifically, the considered network consists of one source-destination pair and N relays that can detect and forward the source's message. By integrating the concept of effective capacity with cooperative relay networks, the proposed scheme allocates each relay a time slot of optimal length during the cooperation phase, based on the channel statistics. Our analysis shows that selecting the relay with the best channel condition for cooperation is optimal when no QoS requirement is considered, while more relays should participate in cooperation when the level of QoS requirement becomes more stringent. ©2008 IEEE