Tannious, R: Spectrally-Efficient Protocols for Wireless Rel

Relaying is seen as an advanced technique to improve the throughput, to exploit the spatial diversity, and most importantly to increase the coverage area in wireless networks. This work proposes several signaling protocols in relay networks and analyzes the performance limits of these protocols. It is shown that compared to a non-cooperative mode of transmission, throughput and/or reliability are immensely enhanced. The reader of this work will get familiar with the principles of relay networks. A summary of the techniques used in relay networks is first provided. The relaying schemes of decode-and-forward and compress-and-forward are studied within a novel generalized relay channel model. Then, the idea of relay selection is highlighted and two novel relay selection schemes are presented. Finally, relaying in interference networks is considered, where multiple source-destination pairs attempt to communicate together and they are assisted by a dedicated relay station. The protocols presented in this work have applications in military communications, ad-hoc and sensor networks, and broadband wireless systems.