Multi-hop networks have been proposed to increase the data transmission rate in wireless mobile networks, and consequently improve the quality of experience of cell-edge users. A successive resource allocation scheme (SAS) has been proposed for a 2-hop virtual cellular network (VCN). In a multi-cell environment, the performance of SAS degrades because of intra-cell and inter-cell interference. In order to alleviate the effect of intra-cell and inter-cell interference and consequently increase the channel capacity of the VCN, this paper proposes the sequential iterative allocation scheme (SIS). Computer simulation results show that, compared to SAS, SIS can improve the fairness, the ergodic, and the outage channel capacity per mobile terminal (MT) of the VCN in a multi-cell environment. This paper also analyzes the performance of the VCN compared to that of the single hop network (SHN) when SIS is applied in a multi-cell environment. Using SIS, VCN can provide higher ergodic channel capacity, and better degree of fairness than SHN in a multi-cell environment. The effect of the number of wireless ports (WPs) in the VCN is also investigated, and the results suggest that adding more WPs per virtual cell in the VCN can enhance the outage channel capacity per MT and the degree of fairness of the VCN.

In the literature, many resource allocation schemes have been proposed for multi-hop networks. However, the analyses provided focus mainly on the single cell case. Inter-cell interference severely degrades the performance of a wireless mobile network. Therefore, incorporating the analysis of inter-cell interference into the study of a scheme is required to more fully understand the performance of that scheme. The authors of this paper have proposed a parallel relaying scheme for a 2-hop OFDMA virtual cellular network (VCN). The purpose of this paper is to study a new version of that scheme which considers a multi-cell environment and evaluate the performance of the VCN. The ergodic channel capacity and outage capacity of the VCN in the presence of inter-cell interference are evaluated, and the results are compared to those of the single hop network (SHN). Furthermore, the effect of the location and number of wireless ports in the VCN on the channel capacity of the VCN is investigated, and the degree of fairness of the VCN relative to that of the SHN is compared. Using computer simulations, it is found that in the presence of inter-cell interference, a) the VCN outperforms the SHN even in the interference dominant transmission power region (when a single cell is considered, the VCN is better than the SHN only in the noise dominant transmission power region), b) the channel capacity of the VCN remains greater than that of the SHN even if the VCN is fully loaded, c) an optimal distance ratio for the location of the wireless ports can be found in the interval 0.2∼0.4, d) increasing the number of wireless ports from 3 to 6 can increase the channel capacity of the VCN, and e) the VCN can achieve better outage capacity than the SHN.

In the next generation mobile network, the demand for high data rate transmission will require an increase in the transmission power if the current mobile cellular network architecture is used. Multihop networks are considered to be a key solution to this problem. However, a new resource allocation algorithm is also required for the new network architecture. In this paper, we propose a resource allocation scheme for a parallel relay 2-hop OFDMA virtual cellular network (VCN) which can be applied in a multiuser environment. We evaluate, by computer simulation, the ergodic channel capacity of the VCN using the proposed algorithm, and compare the results with those of the conventional single hop network (SHN). In addition, we analyze the effect of the location of the relay wireless ports on the ergodic channel capacity of the VCN. We also study the degree of fairness of the VCN, using the proposed scheme, compared with that of the SHN. For low transmission power, the simulation results show: a) the VCN can provide a better ergodic channel capacity and a better degree of fairness than the SHN, b) the distance ratio for which the ergodic channel capacity of the VCN is maximal can be found in the interval 0.20.3, c) the ergodic channel capacity of the VCN remains better than that of the SHN as the number of users increases, and d) as the distance between the relay WPs and the base station increases, the channel capacity of VCN approaches that of the SHN.

In virtual cellular network (VCN), proposed for high-speed mobile communications, the signal transmitted from a mobile terminal is received by some wireless ports distributed in each virtual cell and relayed to the central port that acts as a gateway to the core network. In this paper, we apply the multi-route MHMRC diversity in order to decrease the transmit power and increase the multi-hop link capacity. The transmit power, the interference power and the link capacity are evaluated for DS-CDMA multi-hop VCN by computer simulation. The multi-route MHMRC diversity can be applied to not only DS-CDMA but also other access schemes (i.e. MC-CDMA, OFDM, etc.).

A wireless multi-hop virtual cellular network (VCN) was recently proposed to avoid the large peak transmit power, resulting from the high transmission rates expected for future mobile communication systems. In VCN, calls hop through several links to reach the central port, which is the gateway to the network. With the use of a routing algorithm based on the total uplink transmit power minimization criterion, the total transmit power of all the multi-hop links between the mobile terminal and the central port can be significantly reduced, in comparison with the present (single-hop) cellular network. In this paper, an "on-demand" channel assignment strategy, using the channel segregation dynamic channel allocation (CS-DCA) algorithm, is proposed for multi-hop DS-CDMA VCN. Computer simulation is conducted to evaluate the blocking probability performance and make a comparison between the VCN and the present cellular network.

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.

A Virtual Cellular Network (VCN) is a wireless cellular network wherein a single Mobile Station (MS) can communicate simultaneously with more than one Base Station (BS). In this paper, we analyze handoff for two kinds of VCN: a 'Distributed Resource-control VCN' (DR-VCN) and a 'Centralized Resource-control VCN' (CR-VCN). A VCN can take advantage of the fact that the same data is received by multiple base stations. The DR-VCN is a system in which every BS controls its own channels, while the CR-VCN is a system wherein a central station controls all system channels. Results from analysis and simulation show that both the new call drop rate and handoff refusal rate of the CR-VCN are much lower than those of the DR-VCN.