Throughput scaling laws of hybrid wireless networks with proximity preference

Recent studies suggest nodes in practical networks are more likely to communicate with nearby nodes than far away nodes, which is referred to as proximity preference. In this paper, we model proximity preference by assuming the probability of communication follows a power law distribution with respect to distance and analyze its influence on the throughput of a hybrid network. Moreover, L-maximum-hop routing strategy is adopted to enforce delay constraints. Throughput is derived as a function of maximum hop L, proximity preference index α and the number of base stations (BSs) m. It is also found that per-node throughput changes with α. When 0 ≤ α ≤ 2, proximity has no influence on throughput. When 2 ≤ α ≤ 3, the throughput increases with α. Otherwise, the throughput reaches its maximum and remains constant. Our results demonstrate the interplay of various networks parameters with proximity preference and provide guidelines for the design of practical networks.