Multi-hop radio access cellular concept for fourth-generation mobile communications system

This paper proposes a multi-hop radio access cellular (MRAC) scheme for achieving both high speed and high capacity and good area coverage in fourth generation mobile communications systems. In this scheme, we assume two kinds of hop stations, one is a dedicated repeater station installed at a good propagation location such as a rooftop, and the other is a user terminal that temporarily experiences good propagation conditions. For both cases, the path diversity effect can be obtained between single-hop and multi-hop paths. Four propagation models were studied representing the paths among the base station, hop stations, and mobile station. Based on the propagation models, suitable MRAC operation conditions are discussed. For mobile stations located at the cell edge area, MRAC operation is effective in reducing the transmit power. Consequently, MRAC reduces the interference in cellular systems and enhances the area coverage.