The Performance of Relay-Enhanced Cellular OFDMA-TDD Network for Mobile Broadband Wireless Services

A multihop relay (MR) and repeater are useful means for improving system throughput and coverage in a cellular mobile packet access system, as the carrier-to-interference ratio can be improved when deploying them in a heavily shadowed region. In this paper, we report on our investigation of bandwidth efficiency and the associated service outage performance for different relay scenarios, using system level simulation for a cellular Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access-Time Division Duplexing (OFDMA-TDD) system. We have demonstrated that network throughput gain by typical optical repeaters, which have a simple amplify-and-forwarding capability in a full-duplexing mode, could be minimal in open space subject to cochannel interference from all repeaters in the neighboring cells. This is true, even though they are generally useful for warranting the outage performance with a multiple order of combining gain, especially in the destructive area, for example, basements or indoors with heavy wall attenuation, that naturally shields interference. Meanwhile, we show that multihop relays increase the average system capacity (almost doubling the system throughput) by fully reusing the frequency in every relay station, while improving the per-user data rate in the cell edges or improving the outage performance in the heavily shadowed areas.