Making cooperation valuable: A delay-centric, pricing-based user cooperation strategy

This paper proposes a distributed pricing-based user cooperation strategy for a two-user model focusing on performance from the delay perspective. It explores the fact that cooperation (i.e., one-way relaying as opposed to mutual relaying) is beneficial when users channel conditions are distinct. The strategy only allows valuable cooperation, i.e., the user with a good channel helps relay the packet of a user who suffers from a poor channel. The pricing policy serves as an incentive to encourage the qualified user to engage in cooperation and guarantees that both users have opportunities to benefit from cooperative help. Simulation results show that this strategy has a lower delay, from both the system and the individuals view, than the ‘Non-cooperation’ and ‘Always-cooperation’ strategies.