Full-duplex cooperative transmission scheduling in fast-fading MIMO relaying wireless networks

In this paper, we propose a cooperative uplink transmission strategy for a fast-fading multiple-input-multiple-output (MIMO) wireless network with multiple MIMO users, a single MIMO relay, and a single MIMO destination. Code division multiple access (CDMA) is assumed as a multiple access scheme and pseudorandom codes are employed for different users. We consider a heavy traffic scenario, in which each user always has packets to transmit in the scheduled time slots. If the relay is scheduled for transmission together with users, then it operates in a full-duplex mode, where the packets previously collected from users are transmitted to the destination while new packets are being collected from users. A novel expression of throughput is first derived and then used to develop a scheduling algorithm to maximize the throughput. Our full-duplex scheduling is compared with a half-duplex scheduling, random access, and time division multiple access (TDMA), and simulation results illustrate its superiority. Throughput gains due to employment of both MIMO and CDMA are observed.