SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR DETERMINING A COMMUNICATIONS SCHEDULE FOR RELAY NODES OF A WIRELESS RELAY NETWORK

摘要

A system and method are provided for determining a communications schedule for routing data between a plurality of relay nodes forming a wireless relay network. The communications schedule interconnects the plurality of relay nodes by an ordered sequence of communications links, with the communications links being established over a wireless resource comprising a plurality of resource blocks. The method comprises generating a plurality of candidate connectivity patterns for the ordered sequence of communications links and, for each candidate connectivity pattern, generating a plurality of candidate resource allocations for providing the ordered sequence of communications links in accordance with that candidate connectivity pattern. For each candidate connectivity pattern, a level of a performance characteristic is then calculated for a selected combination of the candidate resource allocations associated with that candidate connectivity pattern. Based on a desired level of the performance characteristic, one of the candidate connectivity patterns and its associated selected combination of candidate resource allocations whose calculated level of the performance characteristic meets the desired level is then selected as the communications schedule to be used. In response to a trigger condition, the performance level evaluation process and the selection process are repeated in order to re- select one of the candidate connectivity patterns and its associated selected combination of candidate resource allocations to be used as the communications schedule. Such an approach provides a particularly flexible and adaptive mechanism for seeking to optimise the performance of a wireless relay network.