In wireless networks it is critical that power consumption by the communication system is minimized. This calls for new exploratory approaches which incorporate coding, power minimization, and transmission techniques integrated in a system design beyond the current methods. Wireless relay networks in the context of cooperative communications provide favorable platform to address this challenge. Cooperative communications is regarded as one of the few enabling physical layer technologies for wireless networking. By employing relays for joint power and location optimization in cooperative communications, the potential benefits are substantially enhanced. The goal of this proposal is to investigate a mixed-integer nonlinear program (MINLP) which is NP hard, in the formulation and solution of the problem of joint power allocation, relay location, and extended to coding. Lower energy consumption is achieved due to smaller distances between relays and the terminals, spatial diversity, and efficient signal processing schemes such as distributed beam-forming and distributed space time coding. The near optimal solution is found using the combinatorial problem under several relaying architectures. The following cases are investigated: 1) BS-only architecture, 2) single relay per MS, 3) multiple relays per MS, 4) distributed beam-forming, and 5) distributed space-time coding. This project also develops interdisciplinary educational material and courses on wireless communications with the goal of bridging the gap between networking and wireless communications curricula via new interdisciplinary courses. Undergraduate and graduate students will be involved with components of the project that are applicable to their level of interest and ability.
