Thesis (Ph. D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, 2008.This electronic version was submitted by the student author. The certified thesis is available in the Institute Archives and Special Collections.Includes bibliographical references (p. 181-200).In wireless networks, relaying and user cooperation offer several attractive benefits such as higher throughput, better power efficiency, and larger coverage. As a result, cooperative networks are regarded as one of the most promising enabling technologies able to meet the increasingly high rate demands and quality of service requirements in wireless networks. In this dissertation, we investigate the efficient design of cooperative wireless networks from the perspectives of robust resource allocation, wideband communications, and energy efficiency. Given that the primary resource to be allocated is the relay node's transmission power, we propose robust and efficient relay power allocation algorithms when the global channel state information is subject to uncertainty. In addition, we propose practical algorithms that do not require frequent tracking of the global channel state information. This work reveals that ignoring global channel state information uncertainties and solving the relay power optimization problems often lead to poor performance, highlighting the importance of robust algorithm designs in practical wireless networks. Wideband cooperative networks allow for both higher data rate and higher resistance to interference. Since the gains achieved by using cooperation come at the cost of higher node complexity and substantial coordination overhead, it is important to study practical low-complexity signaling and receiver schemes suitable for wideband networks. In particular, we consider transmitted-reference signaling schemes and provide a unified performance analysis in terms of bit error rate. Since wideband networks are expected to coexist with many existing narrowband systems, it is important to characterize the effect of narrowband interference. We further extend the performance analysis of transmitted-reference signaling schemes to include the effect of narrowband interference..(cont) Finally, we conclude by studying the benefits of cooperation in a wireless sensor network, which aims at detecting the presence or absence of a certain physical phenomenon of interest using geographically dispersed sensor nodes. We propose a consensus flooding protocol and analyze its average energy consumption. We investigate the tradeoff between the detection reliability and the energy efficiency when nodes are allowed to cooperate. By addressing the above design challenges, this dissertation will be useful for obtaining insight into the theory and application of cooperative networks in future communication systemsby Tony Q.S. Quek.Ph.D
