Inter-cell interference mitigation allocation for half-duplex relays based cooperation

Inter-cell interference is one of the most limiting problems in high capacity mobile wireless networks. The goal of our work is to limit inter-cell interference in two-hop cooperative communication systems, by exploiting the half-duplex per chunk property of relays. Such relays cannot be interfered on a chunk while they are transmitting on it. Cooperative communications may improve the reliability of transmissions, but can also be prejudicial if relays are strongly interfered. Furthermore, additional inter-cell interference is introduced by cooperative communications. For these reasons we propose novel resource allocation modes for such relays; our modes try to protect relays from inter-cell interference and reduce energy needs. We compare our proposals to modes based on classical design. Simulation results show how our proposed allocation modes permit to outperform classical modes in terms of cooperation effectiveness, power consumption and perceived Quality of Service.