Media access control protocol for multi-hop network systems and method therefore

A system for wireless communication, the system including at least one relay node, the relay node being arranged to:

• receive a plurality of media access control (“MAC”) packet data units (“PDUs”) corresponding to a plurality of wireless communication connections;
• group the plurality of MAC PDUs into a relay packet, the grouping including establishing a plurality of sub-groups, each sub-group having a plurality of MAC PDUs, each sub-group associated with a common relay node ID (“RSID”) that identifies a respective relay node that will receive the plurality of MAC PDUs, the relay packet having at least one routing header associated with at least one sub-group, the at least one routing header identifying at least a portion of a route to a destination of the respective sub-group, the at least one routing header including the common RSID of the sub-group;
• and
• route the relay packet according to a tunnel connection ID (“T-CID”) that identifies a tunnel connection between a base station and a relay node, each T-CID associated with a particular route and a set of quality of service (“QoS”) parameters.