A queueing system for modeling cooperative wireless networks with coupled relay nodes and synchronized packet arrivals

In this work we analyze a novel queueing system for modeling cooperative wireless networks. We consider a network of three saturated source users, say a central and two background users, two relay nodes and a common destination node. When the central user fails to transmit a packet directly to the destination, it forwards a copy of the blocked packet at both relay nodes in order to exploit the spatial diversity they provide. Moreover, each relay node receives also blocked packets from a dedicated background user. Relay nodes assist source users by retransmitting their blocked packets to the destination. Due to the complex interdependence among relays, and the wireless interference, the retransmission rate of a relay is affected by the state of the other. We consider a three-dimensional Markov process, investigate its stability, and study its steady-state performance using the theory of boundary value problems. Explicit expressions for the expected delay in the symmetrical model, and a generalization to N>2 relay nodes are also given. Numerical examples are obtained and show insights into the system performance.