A Comparative Study of Relaying Schemes with Decode-and-Forward over Nakagami-m Fading Channels

Utilizing relaying techniques to improve performance of wireless systems is a promising avenue. However, it is crucial to understand what type of relaying schemes should be used for achieving different performance objectives under realistic fading conditions. In this paper, we present a general framework for modelling and evaluating the performance of relaying schemes based on the decode-and-forward (DF) protocol over independent and not necessarily identically distributed (INID) Nakagami-m fading channels. In particular, we present closed-form expressions for the statistics of the instantaneous output signal-to-noise ratio of four significant relaying schemes with DF; two based on repetitive transmission and the other two based on relay selection (RS). These expressions are then used to obtain closed-form expressions for the outage probability and the average symbol error probability for several modulations of all considered relaying schemes over INID Nakagami-m fading. Importantly, it is shown that when the channel state information for RS is perfect, RS-based transmission schemes always outperform repetitive ones. Furthermore, when the direct link between the source and the destination nodes is sufficiently strong, relaying may not result in any gains and in this case it should be switched-off.Comment: Submitted to Journal of Computer Systems, Networks, and Communication

Energy efficiency of some non-cooperative, cooperative and hybrid communication schemes in multi-relay WSNs

In this paper we analyze the energy efficiency of single-hop, multi-hop, cooperative selective decode-and-forward, cooperative incremental decode-and-forward, and even the combination of cooperative and non-cooperative schemes, in wireless sensor networks composed of several nodes. We assume that, as the sensor nodes can experience either non line-of-sight or some line-of-sight conditions, the Nakagami-m fading distribution is used to model the wireless environment. The energy efficiency analysis is constrained by a target outage probability and an end-to-end throughput. Our results show that in most scenarios cooperative incremental schemes are more energy efficient than the other methods

Outage Performance of Two-Hop OFDM Systems with Spatially Random Decode-and-Forward Relays

In this paper, we analyze the outage performance of different multicarrier relay selection schemes for two-hop orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM) systems in a Poisson field of relays. In particular, special emphasis is placed on decode-and-forward (DF) relay systems, equipped with bulk and per-subcarrier selection schemes, respectively. The exact expressions for outage probability are derived in integrals for general cases. In addition, asymptotic expressions for outage probability in the high signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) region in the finite circle relay distribution region are determined in closed forms for both relay selection schemes. Also, the outage probabilities for free space in the infinite relay distribution region are derived in closed forms. Meanwhile, a series of important properties related to cooperative systems in random networks are investigated, including diversity, outage probability ratio of two selection schemes and optimization of the number of subcarriers in terms of system throughput. All analysis is numerically verified by simulations. Finally, a framework for analyzing the outage performance of OFDM systems with spatially random relays is constructed, which can be easily modified to analyze other similar cases with different forwarding protocols, location distributions and/or channel conditions

On the Outage Probability of the Full-Duplex Interference-Limited Relay Channel

In this paper, we study the performance, in terms of the asymptotic error probability, of a user which communicates with a destination with the aid of a full-duplex in-band relay. We consider that the network is interference-limited, and interfering users are distributed as a Poisson point process. In this case, the asymptotic error probability is upper bounded by the outage probability (OP). We investigate the outage behavior for well-known cooperative schemes, namely, decode-and-forward (DF) and compress-and-forward (CF) considering fading and path loss. For DF we determine the exact OP and develop upper bounds which are tight in typical operating conditions. Also, we find the correlation coefficient between source and relay signals which minimizes the OP when the density of interferers is small. For CF, the achievable rates are determined by the spatial correlation of the interferences, and a straightforward analysis isn't possible. To handle this issue, we show the rate with correlated noises is at most one bit worse than with uncorrelated noises, and thus find an upper bound on the performance of CF. These results are useful to evaluate the performance and to optimize relaying schemes in the context of full-duplex wireless networks.Comment: 30 pages, 4 figures. Final version. To appear in IEEE JSAC Special Issue on Full-duplex Wireless Communications and Networks, 201

Diversity-Multiplexing Tradeoff of Asynchronous Cooperative Diversity in Wireless Networks

Synchronization of relay nodes is an important and critical issue in exploiting cooperative diversity in wireless networks. In this paper, two asynchronous cooperative diversity schemes are proposed, namely, distributed delay diversity and asynchronous space-time coded cooperative diversity schemes. In terms of the overall diversity-multiplexing (DM) tradeoff function, we show that the proposed independent coding based distributed delay diversity and asynchronous space-time coded cooperative diversity schemes achieve the same performance as the synchronous space-time coded approach which requires an accurate symbol-level timing synchronization to ensure signals arriving at the destination from different relay nodes are perfectly synchronized. This demonstrates diversity order is maintained even at the presence of asynchronism between relay node. Moreover, when all relay nodes succeed in decoding the source information, the asynchronous space-time coded approach is capable of achieving better DM-tradeoff than synchronous schemes and performs equivalently to transmitting information through a parallel fading channel as far as the DM-tradeoff is concerned. Our results suggest the benefits of fully exploiting the space-time degrees of freedom in multiple antenna systems by employing asynchronous space-time codes even in a frequency flat fading channel. In addition, it is shown asynchronous space-time coded systems are able to achieve higher mutual information than synchronous space-time coded systems for any finite signal-to-noise-ratio (SNR) when properly selected baseband waveforms are employed

On the optimization of distributed compression in multirelay cooperative networks

In this paper, we consider multirelay cooperative networks for the Rayleigh fading channel, where each relay, upon receiving its own channel observation, independently compresses it and forwards the compressed information to the destination. Although the compression at each relay is distributed using Wyner-Ziv coding, there exists an opportunity for jointly optimizing compression at multiple relays to maximize the achievable rate. Considering Gaussian signaling, a primal optimization problem is formulated accordingly. We prove that the primal problem can be solved by resorting to its Lagrangian dual problem, and an iterative optimization algorithm is proposed. The analysis is further extended to a hybrid scheme, where the employed forwarding scheme depends on the decoding status of each relay. The relays that are capable of successful decoding perform a decode-and-forward (DF) scheme, and the rest conduct distributed compression. The hybrid scheme allows the cooperative network to adapt to the changes of the channel conditions and benefit from an enhanced level of flexibility. Numerical results from both spectrum and energy efficiency perspectives show that the joint optimization improves efficiency of compression and identify the scenarios where the proposed schemes outperform the conventional forwarding schemes. The findings provide important insights into the optimal deployment of relays in a realistic cellular network