Joint Relay Selection and Power Control to Maximize Sum-Rate in Multi-Hop Networks

Focusing on the joint relay selection (RS) and power control (PC) problem with a view to maximizing the sum-rate, we propose a novel sub-optimal algorithm that iterates between RS and PC. The RS is performed by maximizing the minimum signal-to- interference-plus-noise-ratio (as opposed to maximizing the sum-rate) and the PC is performed using a successive convex approximation. By comparing the proposed algorithm with existing solutions via extensive simulations, we show that the proposed algorithm results in significant sum-rate gains. Finally, we analyze the two-user multi-hop network and show that optimum transmit power of at least two transmitting nodes can be found using binary power allocation.