Routing for a single interface MCN architecture and pricing schemes for data traffic in multihop cellular networks

Multihop Cellular Networks (MCNs) have been proposed as a throughput enhancement alternative for traditional cellular networks. In MCNs, as opposed to traditional cellular networks, both the Base Station (BS) and the Mobile Stations (MSs) play a significant role in forwarding data. In this paper, we propose an efficient routing protocol for Single interface MCNs and compare it with an existing routing protocol. The primary motivation for exploring this single interface mechanism is to provide low cost and low power consumption mobile devices. Since pricing in packet-based data traffic for MCNs is a key issue which is not addressed so far, we propose a set of incentive-based pricing schemes for packet based traffic that are not bound by mobility or load constraints. We also suggest reimbursement based schemes that take into account the retransmission attempts made by the intermediate nodes. We compare our routing protocol Single interface MCN Routing Protocol (SMRP) with Base driven Multihop Bridging Protocol (BMBP) and study a set of incentive-based pricing schemes for data traffic in MCNs using extensive simulation using GloMoSim.