Autonomous Infrastructure Based Multihop Cellular Networks

In a multihop cellular network, mobile terminals have the capability to transmit directly to other mobile terminals enabling them to use other terminals as relays to forward traffic towards the base station. Previous studies of networks consisting of a single cell found that the SINR in a multihop cellular network is slightly lower than in a traditional cellular network. However, multihop cellular networks may have a higher capacity than traditional cellular networks due to their potential for lower intercell interference. For this reason, the effects of intercell interference are investigated in this thesis. Our simulations of a network with many cells show that multihop cellular networks have a higher SINR than traditional cellular networks due to the near elimination of intercell interference. However, multihop cellular networks still suffer from large amounts of interference surrounding the base station because all traffic either emanates or is destined to the base station making it the capacity bottleneck. To resolve this problem, we propose a novel architecture called the autonomous infrastructure multihop cellular network where users can connect their mobile terminals to the backbone network giving them the functionality of an access point. Access points receive traffic from other terminals and send it directly onto the backbone, as would a base station. This reduces the traffic handled by the base station and increases network capacity. Our analysis and simulations show that in autonomous infrastructure multihop cellular networks, the SINR at the base station is higher, the power consumption is lower and the coverage is better than in normal multihop cellular networks. Access points require parameters like their transmission range to be adjusted autonomously to optimal levels. In this thesis, we propose an autonomous pilot power protocol. Our results show that by adjusting a parameter within the protocol, a required coverage level of terminals can be specified and achieved without knowledge of the location or density of mobile terminals. Furthermore, we show that the protocol determines the transmission range that is optimal in terms of SINR and power consumption that achieves the required coverage while effectively eliminating the bottleneck that existed at the base station.Ph