Inter-Network Interference in Synchronized Cooperative Broadcast Systems

Increasing capacity demands for military services implies more wideband networks claiming more frequency spectrum. In combination with the scarcity of spectrum, this yields an increased risk of inter-network interference. Cooperative relaying, here in the form of synchronized cooperative broadcast (SCB), is a robust broadcast technique. The technique is currently being integrated into state-of-the-art tactical wideband radios. However, the simultaneous cooperative transmissions may cause a severe interference situation. The objective of this paper is to analyze the effects from internetwork interference in frequency-hopping ad hoc networks using SCB. Results show that SCB is robust towards interference in terms of a maintained high delivery ratio. Nevertheless, SCB is not immune to degradations due to inter-network interference. With few available channels, a degradation is evident, in particular if random frequency hopping is used.