Selection criteria of cooperative nodes for reliable wireless multi-hop data transmission

The use of cooperative nodes is effective for enhancing the reliability of wireless data transmission between a source and a destination by means of transmit diversity effect. However, in its application to wireless multi-hop networks, how to form cooperator candidates and then how to select cooperative nodes out of them have been rarely discussed. In this paper, we propose two selection methods of cooperative nodes based on “the literal triangle” and “fading/blocking” criteria and evaluate their performances in an environment often encountered in industrial factories. Computer simulation results demonstrate that the simple literal triangle selection method can perform comparable to the complicated fading/blocking selection method.