Coalitions in Cooperative Wireless Networks

Cooperation between rational users in wireless networks is studied using co-alitional game theory. Using the rate achieved by a user as its utility, it is shown that the stable coalition structure, i.e., set of coalitions from which users have no incentives to defect, depends on the manner in which the rate gains are apportioned among the cooperating users. Specifically, the stability of the Grand Coalition (GC), i.e., the coalition of all users, is studied. Transmitter and receiver cooperation in an Interference Channel (IC) are studied as illustrative cooperative models to determine the stable coalitions for both flexible (transferable) and fixed (non-transferable) apportioning schemes.