Core Capacity Region of Portable Wireless Networks

We analyze the core capacity region of portable wireless networks under a concave utility model for a heterogeneous collection of asynchronous applications such as email and file transfers. We prove that the core capacity region is non-empty under the concave utility model. We show that there is no relaying among portable users in the core capacity region under the many-to-one traffic model for a single type of traffic. However, heterogeneous traffic induces cooperation when the channel conditions are matched to the type of traffic delivered. We demonstrate that each node can increase its utility by allocating its energy across different portable network configurations. The results motivate the use of energy-limited relays in next-generation wireless LAN systems.