is the one that provides the “best” (strongest) end-to-end path between the source and the destination. The $\max-\min$ selection policy ensures a full diversity (equal to the number of the relays (e.g. $K$)) and refers to a standard cooperative protocol where communication is performed in two time slots: a) in the first time slot, the source transmits b) in the second time slot, the selected relay forwards the data received by the source towards the destination. The $\max-\min$ relay selection policy can be written as $$\begin{aligned}
R^*=\arg\max_{R_k\in \mathcal{C}} \min \{ g_{S,R_k} , g_{R_k,D}   \}.\end{aligned}$$ where $R^*$ denotes the selected relay. Although the $\max-\min$ selection scheme achieves a diversity equal to $K$, it does not take into account the fact that relays are equipped with buffers and their potential benefits. The selected relay forwards the received data (in case of a successful decoding) immediately in the next time slot to the destination and therefore the ability of the relays to store at least a limited number of data packets is not elaborated.

$\max-\min$ relay selection in successive relaying
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The $\max-\min$ relay selection policy implemented in a successive relaying network takes a different form if the IRI can be canceled at 