In virtual cellular network (VCN), proposed for high-speed packet mobile communications, the signal transmitted from a mobile terminal is received by wireless ports distributed in each virtual cell and relayed to the central port that acts as a gateway to the core network. In this letter, we apply the multi-hop maximal ratio combining (MHMRC) diversity and propose the route modification algorithm in order to improve transmit power efficiency degradation caused by the carrier frequency difference between the control and the data communication channels for VCN. The transmit power efficiency and the distribution of the number of hops are evaluated by computer simulation for a VCN.

In this paper, the channel segregation dynamic channel allocation (CS-DCA) scheme is applied to a multi-hop DS-CDMA virtual cellular network (VCN). After all multi-hop routes are constructed over distributed wireless ports in a virtual cell, the CS-DCA is carried out to allocate the channels to multi-hop up and down links. Each wireless port is equipped with a channel priority table. The transmit wireless port of each link initiates the CS-DCA procedure and selects a channel among available ones using its channel priority table to check. In this paper, the channel allocation failure rate is evaluated by computer simulation. It is shown that CS-DCA reduces remarkably the failure rate compared to FCA. The impact of propagation parameters on the failure rate is discussed.

Recently, major services provided by mobile communications systems are shifting from voice conversations to data communications over the Internet. There is a strong demand for increasing the data transmission rate. However, an important problem arises; larger peak transmit power is required as transmission rate becomes higher. In this paper, we propose a wireless multi-hop virtual cellular concept to avoid this power problem. The virtual cellular network consists of a central port, which is a gateway to the network, and many distributed wireless ports. Transmit power and frequency efficiencies of the virtual cellular network are evaluated by computer simulation to compare with that of the present cellular networks. In the wireless multi-hop virtual cellular network, routing among wireless ports is an important technical issue. We propose a routing algorithm based on the total uplink transmit power minimization criterion and evaluate the total transmit power by computer simulation.

Broadband fixed wireless access (BFWA) systems with multi-hop mesh topologies have attracted considerable attention as a promising technology for next generation, high quality, high capacity, and high density access infrastructures. The primary advantages of mesh network topologies are an improvement of capacity by means of traffic engineering throughout the networks. This paper discusses an adaptive traffic load balancing method that maximizes the capacity for the mesh BFWA networks. Taking into account the variation of network conditions such as traffic demand distributions and qualities of wireless links, the adaptive traffic load balancing method attempts to equalize the utilization of capacity for each wireless link. To avoid deteriorating the performance of TCP communications, the proposed method implements flow-based traffic load balancing. Performance of the proposed adaptive traffic load balancing method is demonstrated and validated using the experimental mesh network environments with wired networks with up to sixteen nodes that emulates the variation of the wireless link capacity.

Broadband fixed wireless access (BFWA) systems with multi-hop mesh topologies have attracted considerable attention as a promising technology for next generation, high quality, high capacity, and high density access infrastructures. The primary advantages of mesh network topologies are an improvement of availability in connectivity between pairs of nodes by means of diversity routes. This paper discusses wireless node architecture that enables the integrated control of route diversity and traffic engineering together with the control of wireless links whose quality and performance could be affected by radio propagation conditions. Taking into account the functional requirements for multi-hop mesh BFWA networks, such as adaptive link configuration with multiple channels, distributed network management, and traffic engineering in mesh networks, the entity called network control unit (NCU) is designed and developed on a common UNIX based server computer. Implemented functions and their performance are demonstrated using the experimental environments with wired networks.

Since IEEE 802.11 has many problems such as hidden node, exposed node problem, larger sensing function and BEB (Binary Exponential Back-off), it is not suitable for use in multi-hop wireless ad hoc network. When an on-demand routing protocol is used with 802.11 DCF (Distributed Coordination Function), the route to transmit the packet will be formed by nodes which have less competition (fewer neighbors) than others for the medium access. This effect will make that the routing path will be longer and decrease network performance. Therefore, we propose a new MAC (Medium Access Control) protocol that makes a shorter routing path, enabling better performance in multi-hop wireless ad hoc networks. The protocol modifying IEEE 802.11 DCF gives priority to the node with more neighbors and with less transmission. Through simulations, we have demonstrated that the proposed algorithm improves performance in terms of transmission rate, transmission delay and total consumption energy.

Maximizing the throughput of a network while supporting fairness among nodes is one of the most critical issues in designing wireless networks. In single-hop networks, a lot of schemes have been proposed to satisfy this criterion, and efficient protocols like the IEEE 802.11 and the HiperLAN/2 standards have been established for wireless LAN. In multi-hop wireless networks, however, throughput and fairness have different characteristics from those of single-hop networks. In this paper, the tradeoff between throughput and fairness on multi-hop networks is studied by computer simulation, assuming three node distribution models, namely, normal, constant, and uniform distribution and four different bandwidth (channel) scheduling methods, i.e., first-in first-out buffer based, weighted traffic model based, bandwidth reservation based, and maximum throughput based scheduling. Furthermore, as a realistic model, a hybrid scheme is investigated where partial bandwidth is allocated to the bandwidth reservation based scheduling and the remaining to the maximum throughput based one.

In recent years, studies on multi-hop wireless networks have been made by many brilliant researchers. Such a network consists of a set of mobile nodes having wireless communication devices, and is constructed by the nodes autonomously. The most serious problem on the network is the difficulty of network topology management. All nodes are freely movable and their topology is dynamically changing continuously, so it is difficult to determine the paths to any nodes in the network. Although a classical flooding algorithm is a robust algorithm in that situation, the number of retransmitting nodes increases beyond what is necessary. In this paper, a new and more efficient information dissemination algorithm called WDD is proposed, which can substitute for various broadcasting algorithms by just selecting an appropriate waiting-time function. The algorithm is implemented and its applicability is evaluated on a network simulator.

Hot spot service based on wireless LANs is expected to play an important role in the beyond 3G wireless networks. Although spatial coverage is very limited, a comfortable and higher speed compared with a cellular system is available there. However, there might exist nodes that cannot communicate directly with an Access Point (AP) because of the distant location or the shadowing due to obstacles. Accordingly, the introduction of two-hop relaying to the hot spot is useful to extend the coverage and avoid the dead spot. However, the throughput per node is getting decreased as the hot spot coverage area increases. Therefore, in this paper, we propose a scheme to reuse the same channel spatially wherever possible and apply it to the HiperLAN/2 based wireless LAN hot spot with two-hop relaying to compensate for the decrease of the throughput per node. Namely, we modify the HiperLAN/2 protocol in such a way that a time slot is reused at the nodes spatially separated far enough not to cause packet collision. Thus, the throughput is expected to be improved and confirmed by a theoretical analysis and computer simulations.

In a fixed-channel-allocation (FCA) cellular network, a fixed number of channels are assigned to each cell. However, under this scheme, the channel usage may not be efficient because of the variability in the offered traffic. Different approaches such as channel borrowing (CB) and dynamic channel allocation (DCA) have been proposed to accommodate variable traffic. Our work expands on the CB scheme and proposes a new channel-allocation scheme--called mobile-assisted connection-admission (MACA) algorithm--to achieve load balancing in a cellular network, so as to assure network communication. In this scheme, some special channels are used to directly connect mobile units from different cells; thus, a mobile unit, which is unable to connect to its own base station because it is in a heavily-loaded "hot" cell, may be able to get connected to its neighboring lightly-loaded cold cell's base station through a two-hop link. Research results show that MACA can greatly improve the performance of a cellular network by reducing blocking probabilities.

Frequency channel allocation according to the interference among links is important in autonomous distributed control wireless base station networks from the viewpoint of efficient frequency utilization. It is generally difficult to estimate the interference imposed on other links in a distributed control scheme. This paper proposes a novel frequency channel allocation scheme employing distributed control utilizing broadcast signals to estimate the intensities and frequencies of the interference to other links. The frequency channel, which can be allocated to a link from the viewpoint of the degree of the interference imposed on other links, can be found by receiving broadcast signals. Simulation results show that the proposed scheme efficiently allocates frequency channels to each link to avoid the interference.

This paper proposes a multi-hop wireless link system for radio access networks (RANs) of new generation mobile communication systems. The performance of the multi-hop wireless link system is evaluated from the viewpoints of total output power, co-frequency interference characteristics, and the system frequency bandwidth based on a comparison with that of the single-hop wireless link system, which is currently used as a RAN. The proposed system is effective in realizing an enormous approach link capacity from both the total output power and the co-frequency interference viewpoints. From the system frequency bandwidth viewpoint, the optimum number of relays in the multi-hop connection is determined to be three hops in a line-of-sight propagation environment in order to minimize the frequency bandwidth for transferring traffic. We conclude that the multi-hop wireless link system is suitable for new generation mobile communication systems.

Single-hop communication methods of the current wireless network cannot meet new demands in new domains, especially ITS (Intelligent Transport Systems). Even though the ad-hoc network architecture is expected to solve this problem, but the nature of a dynamic topology makes this routing hard to be realized. This paper introduces a new ad-hoc routing algorithm, which is inspired by [1]. In their system, some control agents explore the network and update routing tables on their own knowledge. Using these routing tables, other agents deliver messages. They considered the feasibility of the agent-based routing system, but did not refer to an efficient algorithm. In this paper, we consider that algorithm without increasing network load. We propose multiple entries for each destination in the routing table to store much more information from agents and evaluating them to make better use of information, which succeeded in raising the network connectivity by about 40% by simulation.

To enhance throughput and reuse bandwidth, clustering techniques can effectively manage nodes in multi-hop wireless networks. However, in such networks, hidden terminal interference degrades the system performance and increases the average packet delay time. Therefore, this work presents novel two-level cluster-based code assignment techniques to resolve the hidden terminal problems. At the low level, five basic and an optimized intra-cluster code assignment schemes are developed to calculate the number of codes used in each cluster. At the high level, two inter-cluster code assignment schemes (coarse-grained and fine-grained controls) are proposed to obtain the minimal number of code sets. The merits of our schemes include low execution time, low probability of code re-assignment, and low overhead. Furthermore, the proposed schemes allow us to regionally update orthogonal codes when the topology varies. Experimental results demonstrate that the proposed schemes outperform conventional techniques. Among the five basic intra-cluster code assignment schemes, the ordering criteria of increasing number of one-hop neighbors is the best in terms of the number of orthogonal codes to avoid hidden terminal interference. The optimized intra-cluster code assignment scheme generally obtains fewer orthogonal codes than other schemes. For inter-cluster code assignment schemes, the coarse-grained control has a lower code allocation time. However, the fine-grained control requires fewer orthogonal codes.

Inter-vehicle communication has aroused much interest because of its goal of reducing traffic accidents. In a non-platooning situation, where vehicles travel freely, multiple hop (MH) inter-vehicle communication has not yet been examined. In this paper a simple MH broadcast protocol is proposed, and shown to be effective. The effect of several parameters important to a MH network, such as maximum number of hops and data rate, are investigated. Multiple hop is shown to be superior to the conventional single hop (SH) system using non-platoon inter-vehicle communication.