Cooperative diversity aware priority-based resource allocation for relay-enhanced cellular systems

We propose a cooperative diversity aware priority-based resource allocation scheme for relay-enhanced cellular systems in which mobile stations (MSs) may communicate with base stations (BSs) directly and/or via relay stations (RSs) using half-duplex decode-and-forward relay. MSs that can communicate with a BS directly in the first hop and communicate via a RS in the second hop may achieve cooperative diversity gain. In the proposed distributed resource allocation scheme, we allocate resources to MSs in a prioritized manner based on the signal-to-interference-plus-noise power ratio (SINR) of wireless links while considering whether MSs can achieve cooperative diversity gain. In the resource allocation at the BS in the first hop, the BS gives priority to a MS that can obtain cooperative diversity gain. In the resource allocation at the RS in the second hop however, the RS gives priority to the MS that cannot achieve cooperative diversity gain. Simulation results confirm that the proposed priority-based resource allocation scheme outperforms the conventional resource allocation schemes that do not assign priority between MSs.