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In this paper, we consider the problem of constructing paths using decode and forward (DF) relays for millimeter wave (mmWave) backhaul communications in urban environments. Due to the large number of obstacles in urban environments, line-of-sight (LoS) wireless links, which are necessary for backhaul communication, often do not exist between small-cell base stations. To address this, some earlier works proposed creating multi-hop paths that use mmWave relay nodes with LoS communication between every pair of consecutive nodes to form logical links between base stations. We present algorithms, based on a novel widest-path formulation of the problem, for selecting decode and forward relay node locations in such paths. Our main algorithm is the first polynomial-time algorithm that constructs a relay path with a throughput that is proven to be the maximum possible. We also present variations of this algorithm for constrained problems in which: 1) each possible relay location can host only one relay node, and 2) minimizing the number of hops in the relay path is also an objective. For all of the proposed algorithms, the achievable throughput and numbers of relays are evaluated through simulation based on a 3-D model of a section of downtown Atlanta. The results show that, over a large number of random cases, our algorithm can always find paths with very high throughput using a small number of relays. We also compare and contrast the results with our earlier work that studied the use of amplify-and-forward (AF) relays for the same scenario.
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The Optimal Design of Low-Latency Virtual Backbones
Two nodes of a wireless network may not be able to communicate with each other directly, perhaps because of obstacles or insufficient signal strength. This necessitates the use of intermediate nodes to relay information. Often, one designates a (preferably small) subset of them to relay these messages (i.e., to serve as a virtual backbone for the wireless network), which can be seen as a connected dominating set (CDS) of the associated graph. Ideally, these communication paths should be short, leading to the notion of a latency-constrained CDS. In this paper, we point out several shortcomings of a previously studied formalization of a latency-constrained CDS and propose an alternative one. We introduce an integer programming formulation for the problem that has a variable for each node and imposes the latency constraints via an exponential number of cut-like inequalities. Two nice properties of this formulation are that (1) it applies when distances are hop-based and when they are weighted and (2) it easily generalizes to ensure fault tolerance. We provide a branch-and-cut implementation of this formulation and compare it with a new polynomial-size formulation. Computational experiments demonstrate the superiority of the cut-like formulation. We also study related questions from computational complexity, such as approximation hardness, and answer an open problem regarding the fault diameter of graphs.
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- Award ID(s):
- 1662757
- PAR ID:
- 10250670
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- INFORMS Journal on Computing
- Volume:
- 32
- Issue:
- 4
- ISSN:
- 1091-9856
- Page Range / eLocation ID:
- 952-967
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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- Free Publicly Accessible Full Text
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Accepted Manuscript1.0
- Journal Article:
- https://doi.org/10.1287/ijoc.2019.0914
