Multicast throughput stability analysis for cognitive cooperative random access

In this work, we investigate the queue stability of a two-user cognitive radio system with multicast traffic. We study the impact of network-level cooperation, in which one of the nodes can relay the packets of the other user that are not received at the destinations. Under this approach, if a packet transmitted by the primary user is not successfully received by the destination set but is captured by the secondary source, then the secondary user assumes responsibility for completing the transmission of the packet; therefore, the primary releases it from its queue, enabling it to process the next packet. We demonstrate that the stability region of this cooperative approach is larger than that of the noncooperative approach, which translates into a benefit for both users of this multicast system. Our system model allows for the possibility of multipacket reception, and the optimal transmission strategies for different levels of multipacket reception capability are observed in our numerical results.