Multi-hop Networks with Cooperative Relaying Assisted Links

We assess the impact of cooperative relaying assisted hops on a multi-hop network. On the example of the reactive Dynamic Source Routing (DSR) protocol, we utilize cooperative relays to improve the link delivery probabilities of the individual hops allowing to significantly improve the end-to-end delivery ratio for large networks. First, we discuss two types to trigger retransmissions by cooperative relays in case direct transmissions between nodes fail. Second, we show that cooperative relaying assisted links lead to improved end-to-end delivery probabilities for multi-hop networks and determine the associated costs in terms of delay and consumed energy. For multi-hop routes with a large number of hops, cooperative relaying can decrease the costs while improving the end-to-end delivery ratio significantly making reliable communication possible where unassisted multi-hop communication is functionally not feasible.