A method routs a packet from a source node, via relay nodes, to a destination node. The nodes are connected by wireless links x. A channel power gain γ is measured for each link x. Resource trade-off curves y=f(x) are constructed for each link x from the channel power gains γ, wherein y represents a set of resources. A hyperbolic upper bound h/x+c is fitted to each resource curve, such that h/x+c≧f(x), wherein h is a scale factor, and c is an offset. A route with an optimal resource allocation is selected according to the hyperbolic upper bounds. Then, the packet is transmitted from the source node to the destination node using the route.