Optimization and Traffic Management in IEEE 802.16 Multi-hop Relay Stations using Genetic and Priority Algorithms Jawwad Ibrahim 1 , A. Rehman 1 ′ * , M. Saad Bin Ilyas 1 , Mohsin Shehzad 2 , Maryum Ashraf 1 1 Department of Computer Science & Information Technology, The University of Lahore, Gujrat, Pakistan 2 Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. Islamabad, Pakistan * Correspondence: azizur.rehman@cs.uol.edu.pk Abstract Wireless networks have become a widely accepted technology for rapid access to network infrastructure by remote locations. The Cooperative relaying strategy is considered as one of the most effective solutions for maximum utilization of a wireless network. Paper provides the study on the placement of Relay Stations to achieve an efficient and scalable design in wireless networks. A framework will be developed to optimize the capacity and to meet the minimum traffic demand of subscribers. To utilize the benefits of relaying, relay station placement problems is formulated and bandwidth allocation into an integer linear program that can be easily solved by any Artificial intelligence tool. Index Terms WiMAX, Multi-hop Relay Stations, Relaying Techniques, Genetic Algorithm, Priority Algorithm I. I NTRODUCTION Increasing demand for the wireless internet has made bandwidth utilization an indispensable concern for the telecommunication industry, making sure the bandwidth doesn’t get wasted the problem of coverage holes must be addressed in the case of WiMAX. The areas with the low coverage or low signal strength are facilitated with the relay stations which helps to improve the signal strength that results in capacity enhancement. Coverage holes are one of the main reasons for the underutilization of bandwidth and low data rates.[1] The best solution to such a problem is to install relay station in coverage holes and hence make use of cooperative relaying. Fig. 1, represents a cooperative network. Cooperative relaying in the multi-hop wireless network uses multiple antenna techniques and combines the relayed and direct signal and decodes it to maximize the capacity of the total network for given set of bandwidths. This is the difference between normal single hop network and cooperative relaying as the normal single hop system works on direct transmission only, the receiver in these systems receives and uses the information of direct signal only and treats relayed signal as interference. International Journal of Computer Science and Information Security (IJCSIS), Vol. 14, No. 7, July 2016 599 https://sites.google.com/site/ijcsis/ ISSN 1947-5500