Percolation and Connectivity on the Signal to Interference Ratio Graph

Abstract: A wireless communication network is considered where any two nodes are connected if the signal-to-interference ratio (SIR) between them is greater than a threshold. Assuming that the nodes of the wireless network are distributed as a Poisson point process (PPP), percolation (unbounded connected cluster) on the resulting SIR graph is studied as a function of the density of the PPP. For both the path-loss as well as path-loss plus fading model of signal propagation, it is shown that for a small enough threshold, there exists a closed interval of densities for which percolation happens with non-zero probability. Conversely, for the path-loss model of signal propagation, it is shown that for a large enough threshold, there exists a closed interval of densities for which the probability of percolation is zero. Restricting all nodes to lie in an unit square, connectivity properties of the SIR graph are also studied. Assigning separate frequency bands or time-slots proportional to the logarithm of the number of nodes to different nodes for transmission/reception is sufficient to guarantee connectivity in the SIR graph.