Performance analysis of intelligent relaying in UTRA TDD

This paper concerns the analysis of intelligent relaying (IR), a technique to extend the capabilities of an UTRA TDD system by enabling terminals to receive and retransmit data on behalf of other mobiles. This relaying may be enabled in all mobile units, or restricted to dedicated equipment deployed by a network operator. The aims are to reduce power by breaking down the path between mobile and base station into a number of shorter hops and to extend coverage into regions shadowed from direct base station coverage. The potential benefits depend on the efficiency of the resource allocation algorithm in coping with multiple access interference, and so a simulation tool has been developed to analyse the performance of IR. Results show that IR can provide benefits in the case where base stations are sparsely deployed and also offers power reduction compared to a conventional TD/CDMA scheme under conditions of light call loading.