A cluster-based relay station deployment scheme for multi-hop relay networks

Multi-hop relay networks have been widely considered as a promising solution to extend the coverage area and to reduce the deployment cost by deploying the relay stations (RSs) in mobile communication systems. Suitable deployment for the RSs is one of the most important features of the demand nodes (DNs) to obtain a high data transmission rate in such systems. Considering a tradeoff among the network throughput, the deployment budget, and the overall coverage of the systems, efficient RS deployment schemes and corresponding algorithms must be developed and designed. A novel cluster-based RS deployment scheme is proposed in this paper to select the appropriate deployment locations for the relay stations from the candidate positions. To make an ideal cluster distribution, the distances between the DNs are calculated when deploying the RSs. We take into account the traffic demands and adopt a uniform cluster concept to reduce the data transmission distances of the DNs. On the basis of the different candidate positions, the proposed scheme makes an adaptive decision for selecting the deployment sites of the RSs. A better network throughput and coverage ratio can be obtained by balancing the network load among the clusters. Simulation results show that the proposed scheme outperforms the previously known schemes in terms of the network throughput and the coverage ratio. Additionally, a suitable deployment budget can be implemented in multi-hop relay networks.