text: The SINR model for wireless networks has been extensively studied recently. It tries to model whether a particular transmitter is heard at a specific location, with @math transmitting simultaneously. The SINR diagram consists of @math regions where each transmitter can be heard and the remaining space where no one can be heard. Efficient point location in the SINR diagram, i.e., building a data structure to determine, for a query point, whether any transmitter is heard there, and if so, which one, has been recently investigated. Previous such planar data structures are constructed in time at least quadratic in @math and support logarithmic-time approximate queries. Moreover, the performance of these depends not only on the number @math of transmitters and on the approximation parameter @math , but also on some geometric parameters that cannot be bounded a priori as a function of @math or @math . We address the question of batched point location queries, i.e., answering many queries simultaneously. Specifically, in one dimension, we can answer @math queries exactly in amortized polylogarithmic time per query, while in the plane we can do it approximately. All these results can handle arbitrary power assignments to the transmitters. Moreover, the amortized query time in these results depends only on @math and @math . We also show how to speed up the preprocessing in a previously proposed point-location structure in SINR diagram for uniform-power sites, by almost a full order of magnitude. For this we obtain results on the sensitivity of the reception regions to slight changes in the reception threshold, which are of independent interest. Finally, these results demonstrate the (so far underutilized) power of combining algebraic tools with those of computational geometry and other fields.
  @cite_9: The rules governing the availability and quality of connections in a wireless network are described by physical models such as the signal-to-interference & noise ratio (SINR) model. For a collection of simultaneously transmitting stations in the plane, it is possible to identify a reception zone for each station, consisting of the points where its transmission is received correctly. The resulting SINR diagram partitions the plane into a reception zone per station and the remaining plane where no station can be heard. SINR diagrams appear to be fundamental to understanding the behavior of wireless networks, and may play a key role in the development of suitable algorithms for such networks, analogous perhaps to the role played by Voronoi diagrams in the study of proximity queries and related issues in computational geometry. So far, however, the properties of SINR diagrams have not been studied systematically, and most algorithmic studies in wireless networking rely on simplified graph-based models such as the unit disk graph (UDG) model, which conveniently abstract away interference-related complications, and make it easier to handle algorithmic issues, but consequently fail to capture accurately some important aspects of wireless networks. This article focuses on obtaining some basic understanding of SINR diagrams, their properties and their usability in algorithmic applications. Specifically, we have shown that assuming uniform power transmissions, the reception zones are convex and relatively well-rounded. These results are then used to develop an efficient approximation algorithm for a fundamental point location problem in wireless networks.
  @cite_14: This paper studies the reception zones of a wireless network in the SINR model with receivers that employ interference cancellation (IC). IC is a recently developed technique that allows a receiver to decode interfering signals, and cancel them from the received signal in order to decode its intended message. We first derive the important topological properties of the reception zones and their relation to high-order Voronoi diagrams and other geometric objects. We then discuss the computational issues that arise when seeking an efficient description of the zones. Our main fundamental result states that although potentially there are exponentially many possible cancellation orderings, and as a result, reception zones, in fact there are much fewer nonempty such zones. We prove a linear bound (hence tight) on the number of zones and provide a polynomial time algorithm to describe the diagram. Moreover, we introduce a novel parameter, the Compactness Parameter, which influences the tightness of our bounds. We then utilize these properties to devise a logarithmic time algorithm to answer point-location queries for networks with IC.
  @cite_23: In this paper we study the topological properties of wireless communication maps and their usability in algorithmic design. We consider the SINR model, which compares the received power of a signal at a receiver against the sum of strengths of other interfering signals plus background noise. To describe the behavior of a multi-station network, we use the convenient representation of a . In the SINR model, the resulting partitions the plane into reception zones, one per station, and the complementary region of the plane where no station can be heard. We consider the general case where transmission energies are arbitrary (or non-uniform). Under that setting, the reception zones are not necessarily convex or even connected. This poses the algorithmic challenge of designing efficient point location techniques as well as the theoretical challenge of understanding the geometry of SINR diagrams. We achieve several results in both directions. We establish a form of weaker convexity in the case where stations are aligned on a line. In addition, one of our key results concerns the behavior of a @math -dimensional map. Specifically, although the @math -dimensional map might be highly fractured, drawing the map in one dimension higher "heals" the zones, which become connected. In addition, as a step toward establishing a weaker form of convexity for the @math -dimensional map, we study the interference function and show that it satisfies the maximum principle. Finally, we turn to consider algorithmic applications, and propose a new variant of approximate point location.
summary: The papers most relevant to ours are those by @cite_9 and @cite_23 discussed above. @cite_14 also considered the problem of handling queries of the following form (in the uniform-power setting): Given a transmitter @math and query point @math , does @math receive @math by successively applying interference cancellation? (Interference cancellation is a technology that enables a point @math to receive a transmitter @math , even if @math 's signal is not the strongest one received at @math ; see @cite_14 for further details.)