Hardware Prototype for Two-Way Multi-Hop Relay Network with MIMO Network Coding

This paper develops the first prototype hardware for TDD/TDMA two-way multi-hop relay network with MIMO network coding. Since conventional wireless multi-hop relay networks have drawbacks of low data rate, TDD/TDMA two-way multi-hop relay networks have been studied as a solution to realize high data rate recently. In these networks, forward and backward streams are spatially multiplexed by using interference cancellation technology such as MIMO beamforming or MIMO network coding. In this prototype hardware, MIMO network coding and network synchronization scheme are implemented to realize such TDD/TDMA two-way multi-hop relay network in real environment. In the demonstrator using the prototype hardware, each transmitter and each receiver performs network coded broadcast (BC) and MIMO multiple access (MA) respectively. Performance of the demonstrator shows that the TDD/TDMA two-way multi-hop relay network with MIMO network coding can be realized.