Stochastic Geometry Framework for Ultrareliable Cooperative Communications With Random Blockages

Gourab Ghatak, Saeed R. Khosravirad, Antonio De Domenico

Abstract: We study an industry automation scenario where a central controller broadcasts critical messages to the wireless devices (e.g., sensors/actuators). We devise a stochastic geometry framework where the rate coverage probability of devices is modeled by taking into account the density of roaming blockages over the factory floor. To alleviate the loss in the coverage, we adopt a two-phase transmission policy, where in the <italic xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">broadcast phase</i> , the central controller broadcasts the messages intended for the devices in the network area. The devices in coverage in the broadcast phase act as decode-and-forward relays in the <italic xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">relay phase</i> , so as to reinforce the signal strength at the devices in outage. The total downlink transmission time is, therefore, partitioned into two phases by a tunable factor. Finally, we study the optimal value of the partitioning factor with varying device densities, blockage densities, and file sizes, and we highlight that a longer transmission time should be allotted to the broadcast phase in the case of larger file sizes or lower transmit power of the controller.