Vehicular Relay Nodes for Cellular Deployments: Uplink Channel Modeling and Analysis

Multi layer heterogeneous networks (HetNet) are constantly evolving along with the ever increasing anywhere anytime connectivity demand. This paper presents a new HetNet deployment approach different from classical cellular deployments which are solely based on static infrastructure. The new deployment approach proposes using of an overlay of nomadic vehicular relay nodes (VeRNs) with an existing cellular infrastructure. VeRN uplink performance are analyzed in two deployment models, which focus on VeRN impact on the network as a function of its placement. A comparison between a direct cellular link and a 2-hop relay link based on VeRN for the proposed deployment models is presented with link levels and spectral efficiency (SE) results. The analysis is based on extensive simulations processed with an indicative proposed figure of merit (FOM). The results show significant improvement in link level as well as substantial increase in spectral efficiency when using VeRNs for a large range of deployment parameters.