Stability of bi-directional cooperative relay networks

Abstract

We consider a pair of nodes who wish to communicate with each other via intermediate relays. In this bi-directional network with stochastic flows, we develop the throughput optimal control policy, i.e., a policy that stabilizes the network whenever the arrival rates are within the region established. We investigate the effect of implementing different practical transmission protocols and network coding. The network control policies we present offer diverse possibilities in relaying and cooperation structure depending on the channel and the queue states.