Cooperation vs. hierarchy: an information-theoretic comparison
Lalitha Sankaranarayanan, Gerhard G. Kramer, Narayan B. Mandayam · 2005
The performance of source-cooperation in a multi-access network is compared to that of using a wireless relay. The former network is modeled as a multi-access channel with generalized feedback and the latter as a multi-access relay channel. Using power as the cost metric, achievable rates and outage probabilities for the two networks are compared under a total transmit power constraint and a specified geometry. The use of a relay is shown to be advantageous for a variety of wireless fading channels