Adaptive Zone Size Selection Method for IEEE 802.16j Mobile Multihop Relay Networks

IEEE 802.16j relay networks are capable of extending the coverage areas of IEEE 802.16 networks and can support the data rate requirements of users at cell edges. In these networks, each frame is divided into various zones to facilitate data transmission between various types of nodes. As the link qualities in the network change, accordingly the zone sizes should also change to support the Quality of Service (QoS) requirements of flows and to avoid bandwidth wastage. To address this issue, in this paper, we propose an adaptive zone size selection method for IEEE 802.16j networks. With this method, zone sizes of scheduling nodes are adaptively changed in accordance with their changing link qualities. As the link qualities degrade, the scheduling nodes may not be able to support the QoS requirements of flows due to the lack of free bandwidth availability in the corresponding zones. To handle this issue with less control overhead, we propose a cross-zone bandwidth allocation method. A zone size reselection method is also proposed to handle the situations where the cross-zone bandwidth allocation is not possible. Performance of the proposed method is compared with the performance of a fixed zone size selection method and a zone size selection method proposed in the literature. The proposed method shows significantly better performance than the other two methods in terms of traffic admittance, bandwidth utilization, and satisfaction ratios of flows.