Communication Range of Virtual Node Based on Cooperative Communication

The disc coverage model is usually used to describe the communication range of node in wireless sensor network (WSN). After the cooperative communication techniques has been introduced into WSN, not only the communication performance but also communication range has changed. Nodes in the same cooperative team can be viewed as a virtual node. This paper discusses the virtual node´s communication range as well as the connection between the position of cooperative nodes and destination node when two nodes are cooperating. Furthermore, the condition on which the shape of communication range changes is studied. Last, the communication range with different power control strategies is investigated, too. It is shown that the communication/coverage range of virtual node can be viewed as a disc when destination node is relatively far from transmission nodes by theoretical analysis. However, the disc coverage model is not suitable when the distance of the two transmitters is almost the same with the distance between receiver and transmitter.