Self-organization of relay-based next generation radio access networks (RANs)

This paper describes the role of fixed relays in extending the range of RAN and to quickly provide coverage in a highly congested area. The ability to connect with any other node within their ranges enables load-balancing, robustness, and reconfigurability. We apply and extend the concepts of self-organization, i.e., "small world" and "scale free" in complex networks to relay-based RAN, where the solution is scalable and reconfigurable. The problem and solution space is segmented into: (1) topology generation and (2) connection establishment and routing, with the goal to minimize the number of hops, to achieve load-balancing, and to increase robustness and reliability.