This research goes beyond the physical layer in defining and analyzing cooperative techniques for wireless networks. By incorporating higher layer properties such as traffic dynamics and access control, the investigators develop a new theoretical framework for analyzing and designing cooperative networking algorithms across the layers, which includes existing cooperative techniques such as cooperative relaying and network coding. The basis of this research rests on two major points:: first, the realization that cooperative communication at the physical layer cannot be viewed in isolation, since it has implications at the access and network layers, and second, the recognition . that cooperation at the higher layers, in its own right, can significantly impact overall network performance.
This project has three inter-related thrusts: The first thrust studies resource allocation policies which stabilize the queues within various classes of cooperative networks, if stability is indeed attainable. The second thrust determines a family of scheduling algorithms which maximize the volume of traffic served by a cooperative network within a finite horizon. Finally, game theoretic models are developed for cooperative networks where nodes in the network are allowed to pursue differing objectives, and come to a distributed agreement on the (locally) optimal operating point for the overall network. This research also considers non-stationary and non-ergodic environments that are more appropriate representations of the wireless channel in a network.
