Link and system-level analysis of structured multi-hop networks

The IST-ROMANTIK project focussed on resource management and advanced receiver architectures for multi-hop networks, running from February 2002 for 3 years. A modified UMTS HSDPA system level simulator incorporating relaying nodes was used to confirm gains predicted from a link level analysis of the propagation loss enhancement associated with the use of multi-hop techniques. This paper provides a brief overview of the link level propagation analysis developed within the project. Whilst the link level interference analysis is not presented in this paper, system level simulation results are presented. In particular these indicate that for two specific deployment scenarios a significant increase in coverage, especially at the cell edge, as well as a capacity gain was achievable. However, these gains were shown to be dependent on both careful positioning of the relays and optimal setting of the transmit power. Index terms – HSDPA, Multi-hop, System level simulation