Cooperative Communication by Low-Power Radio Transmitters

A report proposes a method of cooperative modulation between (1) low-power radio transceivers associated with sensors geographically dispersed on a remote planet for relaying information between the sensors and an Earth station. The method, denoted node selection on orthogonal channels (NSOC), would make it unnecessary to include an additional, intermediate-power base station on the planet to effect long-distance communication with the orbiting transceiver.