Relay Subset Selection in Wireless Networks Using Partial Decode-and-Forward Transmission

This paper considers the problem of selecting a subset of nodes in a two-hop wireless network to act as relays in aiding the communication between the source–destination pair. Optimal relay subset selection with the objective of maximizing the overall throughput is a difficult problem that depends on multiple factors, including node locations, queue lengths, and power consumption. A partial decode-and-forward strategy is applied in this paper to improve the tractability of the relay selection problem and the performance of the overall network. Note that the number of relays that are selected ultimately determines the performance of the network. This paper benchmarks this performance by determining the net diversity that is achieved using the relays that are selected and the partial decode-and-forward strategy. This framework is subsequently used to further transform relay selection into a simpler relay placement problem, and two proximity-based approximation algorithms are developed to determine the appropriate set of relays to be selected in the network. Other selection strategies, such as random relay selection and a greedy algorithm that relies on channel state information, are also presented. This paper concludes by showing that the proposed proximity-based relay selection strategies yield near-optimal expected rates for a small number of selected relays.