  It is well known that cooperation between users in a communication network
can lead to significant performance gains. A common assumption in past works is
that all the users are aware of the resources available for cooperation, and
know exactly to what extent these resources can be used. Unfortunately, in many
modern communication networks the availability of cooperation links cannot be
guaranteed a priori, due to the dynamic nature of the network. In this work a
family of models is suggested where the cooperation links may or may not be
present. Coding schemes are devised that exploit the cooperation links if they
are present, and can still operate (although at reduced rates) if cooperation
is not possible.
