Dynamic joint resource allocation and relay selection for 5G multi-hop relay systems

LTE/LTE-A networks have become widely exploited to address the increasing demands of mobile traffic. Relay technologies have recently been introduced to fulfill such requirements. Currently, the LTE-A relay standard is restricted to two-hop relaying. This architecture minimizes system complexity, but multi-hop relay architecture could potentially provide greater capacity and coverage in the future. However, many complexities of the multi-hop relaying paradigm must be resolved. In this work, we focus on downlink resource allocation and relay selection, by which a user may be connected to a base station through a multi-hop relay and have several relay stations from which to choose within his range. To overcome the additional challenges introduced by multi-hop relay nodes, we propose a dynamic joint resource allocation and relay selection scheme. Numerical results are presented to demonstrate the validity of the proposed algorithm.