Relay Selection and Max-Min Resource Allocation for Multi-Source OFDM-Based Mesh Networks

The authors consider a multi-source mesh network of static access points wherein sources use decode-and-forward to cooperate with each other. All transmissions use Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM). Their objective is to maximize the minimum achievable rate across all flows. They find a tight upper bound on the performance of the subcarrier-based cooperation and show that selecting a single relay for each subcarrier is optimal for almost all subcarriers. The solution to the related optimization problem simultaneously solves the relay, power, and subcarrier assignment problems. Second, unlike previous works, they also consider relay selection for the entire OFDM block.