System-Level Modeling and Performance Evaluation of Multi-Hop 802.16j Systems

IEEE 802.16j multi-hop relay task standard draft 16JD1 includes different options for relay stations. These options include transparent relay frame structure, non-transparent relay frame structure with scheduling function located in the base station (centralized scheduling) or in the relay station (distributed scheduling). These options are mutually exclusive, and it is important to understand the benefit and limit of each option. In this work we evaluated and compared them in terms of network coverage and capacity through extensive simulations. Special attention was paid to simulate the multi-path fading channel and interference from other base station or relay stations in the downlink (DL). Our results have shown that the highest network coverage and capacity are achieved with non- transparent relay station with distributed scheduling.