Cooperative Relaying under Spatially an...

We analyze the performance of an interferencelimited, decode-and-forward, cooperative relaying system that comprises a source, a destination, and N relays, placed arbitrarily on the plane and suffering from interference by a set of
interferers placed according to a spatial Poisson process. In each transmission attempt, first the transmitter sends a packet; subsequently, a single one of the relays that received the packet correctly, if such a relay exists, retransmits it. We consider
both selection combining and maximal ratio combining at the
destination, Rayleigh fading, and interferer mobility.
We derive expressions for the probability that a single transmission attempt is successful, as well as for the distribution of the transmission attempts until a packet is transmitted successfully. Results provide design guidelines applicable to a wide range
of systems. Overall, the temporal and spatial characteristics of the interference play a significant role in shaping the system performance. Maximal ratio combining is only helpful when relays are close to the destination; in harsh environments, having
many relays is especially helpful, and relay placement is critical; the performance improves when interferer mobility increases; and a tradeoff exists between energy efficiency and throughput.