Multiple Access in Mesh and Relay Networks: Continuous Single-Carrier Waveforms are Superior to Bursted Multi-Carrier Waveforms

The choice of duplexing, multiplexing, and multiple access (D/M/MA) schemes defines important network characteristics at the physical and higher layers. Yet direct comparisons of available techniques are rare. Here we first analyze a simple 2-node network to illustrate some fundamental relationships among D/M/MA schemes, and then describe comparisons of orthogonal (no-interference) D/M/MA schemes in mesh and relay networks. We show that the choice of techniques can have significant effects upon system performance, including range and throughput, and that continuous single-carrier waveforms are superior to bursted multi-carrier waveforms. We extend the relay analysis to the realistic case that reuses time or frequency resources, taking into account inter-node interference (INI); this yields a useful relation for relay re-use design.