Performance analysis of selective cooperation in amplify‐and‐forward relay networks over identical Nakagami‐m channels

In cooperative communications, multiple relays between a source and a destination can increase the diversity gain. Because all the nodes must use orthogonal channels, multiple‐relay cooperation becomes spectrally inefficient. Therefore, a bestrelay selection scheme was recently proposed. In this paper, we analyzed the performance of this scheme for a system with the relays operating in amplify‐and‐forward mode over identical Nakagami‐m channels using an exact source–relay–destination signal‐to‐noise ratio (SNR).We derived accurate closed‐form expressions for various system parameters including the probability density function of end‐to‐end SNR, the average output SNR, the bit error probability, and the channel capacity. The analytical results were verified through Monte Carlo simulations. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Evaluating secrecy performance of cooperative NOMA networks under existence of relay link and direct link

The secrecy performance of a nonorthogonal multiple access (NOMA) system is examined in this study by employment of a dual‐hop decode‐and‐forward (DF) relay under existence of eavesdropper. Due to the fact that the relay is trusted or untrusted device and thus eavesdropper may wiretap information from the base station or the relay. In this regard, three scenarios related to trusted and untrusted relays are proposed, with different assumptions on the information overhearing ability of the eavesdropper; ie, the first scenario is that an eavesdropper overhears signal from the relay while the BS is overheard by eavesdropper in the second scenarios. More specifically, we derive closed‐form expressions for the secure probability metrics when the direct and relay links experience independent Rayleigh fading. There metrics include strictly positive secrecy capacity (SPSC) and the secure outage probability (SOP). Furthermore, secure performance of traditional orthogonal multiple access (OMA) is also provided as further comparison with NOMA counterpart. We analyze the influence of main coefficients such as the target rates and the transmit SNR factors on the secrecy performance. Our results specify that for reasonable selection of such parameters, secrecy performance can be enhanced remarkably. Numerical results are delivered to corroborate the derived results.     

Effect of imperfect channel state information and co‐channel interferences on two‐hop fixed gain amplify‐and‐forward relay networks with beamforming

This letter investigates the joint effects of imperfect channel state information and co‐channel interferences on a two‐hop fixed gain amplify‐and‐forward (AF) relay network with beamforming. Specifically, the analytical expressions of the outage probability and the average symbol error rate for the AF relaying are derived. Moreover, the asymptotic analysis at high signal‐to‐noise ratio is also presented to reveal the diversity order and array gain of the considered AF relay system. Finally, computer simulations are given to confirm the validity of the analytical results. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

General switch‐and‐examine relaying for demodulate‐and‐forward cooperative diversity

Two new demodulate‐and‐forward schemes of multi‐relay cooperative diversity with switch‐and‐examine relaying (SER) are analyzed. To reduce relay usage and enhance bandwidth efficiency, the two new cooperative diversity schemes employ a switch‐based relay selection. The proposed schemes consume less communication resource than regular relaying schemes, such as the selection combining (SC) or maximal ratio combining (MRC) schemes that always use all relays, and also achieve better performance than distributed switch‐and‐stay schemes. In the first scheme, the decision statistic for relay usage and selection is based on the signal‐to‐noise ratio (SNR). In the second scheme, the log‐likelihood ratio (LLR) of received signals is used for the decision of relay usage and selection. With the two SER schemes, the bit error probability (BEP) of binary phase shift keying (BPSK) and the average number of used paths are derived and expressed in closed‐form for the independent and identically distributed (i.i.d.) Rayleigh fading channels. Numerical and simulation results are presented for performance illustrations. According to the numerical results, the LLR‐based SER not only achieves a lower BEP but also consumes less relay resource than the SNR‐based SER. Furthermore, the LLR‐based SER scheme even outperforms the corresponding SNR‐based SC scheme for a range of average SNR. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Transmission scheduling in a multi‐channel wireless network with bidirectional relaying links

Using network coding in a wireless network can potentially improve the network throughput. On the other hand, it increases the complexity of resource allocations as the quality of one transmission is affected by the link conditions of the transmitter to multiple receivers. In this work, we study time slot scheduling and channel allocations jointly for a network with bidirectional relaying links, where the two end nodes of each link can exchange data through a relay node. Two scenarios are considered when the relay node forwards packets to the end nodes. In the first scenario, the relay node always forwards network‐coded packets to both end nodes simultaneously; in the second scenario, the relay node opportunistically uses network coding for two‐way relaying and traditional one‐way relaying. For each scenario, an optimization problem is first formulated for maximizing the total network throughput. The optimum scheduling is not causal because it requires future information of channel conditions. We then propose heuristic scheduling schemes. The slot‐based scheduling maximizes the total transmission rate of all the nodes at each time slot, and the node‐based scheduling schedules transmissions based on achievable transmission rates of individual nodes at different channels. The node‐based one has lower complexity than the slot‐based one. Our results indicate that although the node‐based scheduling achieves slightly lower throughput than the slot‐based one, both the proposed scheduling schemes are very effective in the sense that the difference between their throughput and the optimum scheduling is relatively small in different network settings. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Performance of joint transmit and receive antenna selection in dual hop amplify‐and‐forward relay network over Nakagami‐m fading channels

In this paper, performance of joint transmit and receive antenna selection in each hop of dual hop amplify‐and‐forward relay network is analyzed over flat and asymmetric Nakagami‐m fading channels. In the network, source, relay, and destination are equipped with multiple antennas. By considering relay location, we derive exact closed‐form cumulative distribution function, moment generating function, moments of end‐to‐end signal‐to‐noise ratio and closed form symbol error probability expressions for fixed and channel state information‐based relay gains. We also derive the asymptotical outage probability and symbol error probability expressions to obtain diversity order and array gain of the network. Analytical results are validated by the Monte Carlo simulations. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Parallel relay‐assisted three‐phase MIMO space division multiple access transmission for multi‐hop throughput improvement

Multi‐hop communications equipped with parallel relay nodes is an emerging network scenario visible in environments with high node density. Conventional interference‐free medium access control (MAC) has little capability in utilizing such parallel relays because it essentially prohibits the existence of co‐channel interference and limits the feasibility of concurrent communications. This paper aims at presenting a cooperative multi‐input multi‐output (MIMO) space division multiple access (SDMA) design that uses each hop's parallel relay nodes to improve multi‐hop throughput performance. Specifically, we use MIMO and SDMA to enable concurrent transmissions (from multiple Tx nodes to single/multiple Rx nodes) and suppress simultaneous links' co‐channel interference. As a joint physical layer (MAC/PHY) solution, our design has multiple MAC modules including load balancing that uniformly splits traffic packets at parallel relay nodes and multi‐hop scheduling taking co‐channel interference into consideration. Meanwhile, our PHY layer modules include distributive channel sounding that exchanges channel information in a decentralized manner and link adaptation module estimating instantaneous link rate per time frame. Simulation results validate that compared with interference‐free MAC or existing Mitigating Interference using Multiple Antennas (MIMA‐MAC), our proposed design can improve end‐to‐end throughput by around 30% to 50%. In addition, we further discuss its application on extended multi‐hop topology. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

End‐to‐end performance of transmit antenna selection and generalized selection combining in dual‐hop amplify‐and‐forward relay network in the presence of feedback errors

In this paper, end‐to‐end performance of transmit antenna selection (TAS) and generalized selection combining (GSC) is studied in a dual‐hop amplify‐and‐forward relay network over flat Rayleigh fading channels. In the system, source and destination equipped with multiple antennas, communicate by the help of single relay equipped with single antenna. Source‐destination link is not available. TAS is used for transmission at the source, and GSC is used for reception at the destination. By considering the relay location and the presence of error in feedback channel from the relay to the source, we derive closed‐form outage probability, moment generating function and moments of end‐to‐end signal‐to‐noise ratio, and closed‐form symbol error probability (SEP) expressions for channel state information (CSI)‐based and fixed relay gains. The diversity order and array gain of the network are obtained for both CSI‐based and fixed relay gains by deriving asymptotical outage probability and SEP expressions. The analytical results are validated by the Monte Carlo simulations. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Secrecy performance analysis of AF relaying with relay selection scheme over Nakagami‐m fading channels

This paper investigates the secrecy outage probability (SOP) and intercept behavior for the amplify‐and‐forward network over Nakagami‐m fading channels. Relay selection schemes are evaluated. The optimal and suboptimal criterions require the instantaneous and statistical channel state information of the eavesdroppers' channels, respectively. The enhanced 2‐hop criterion needs the additional information of the target secrecy rate for relay selection. Theoretical analysis reveals that the diversity order of the SOP is dominated by the minimum fading figures of the source‐relay and relay‐destination channels, while that of the intercept probability depends on the fading figure of the relay‐destination channel. In the multirelay scenario, the optimal, suboptimal, and enhanced 2‐hop scheme achieve the same diversity orders of the SOP. For the intercept probability, the optimal and second‐hop relay selection schemes provide the same diversity order, while the diversity orders of the suboptimal and enhanced 2‐hop schemes are the same. Simulation results finally substantiate the accuracy of the theoretical analysis.     

Physical‐layer network coding with limited feedback using orthogonal space–time block codes

This paper introduces limited feedback technique into physical‐layer network coding (PLNC) scheme, which is the most spectrally efficient protocol in two‐way relay channels, consisted of one relay and two end nodes (sources). Decode‐and‐forward (DF) and partial‐decode‐and‐forward (PDF) strategies are considered for PLNC, and all nodes are assumed to have two antennas to allow transmission by Alamouti's orthogonal space–time block code to provide diversity. In DF, by limited feedback, one of the sources is informed about instantaneous channel state information (CSI) to increase the bit error rate (BER) performance at relay. The closed‐form upper and lower bounds on the bit error probability are derived for binary phase‐shift keying (BPSK) and quadrature PSK (QPSK) modulations and approved via computer simulations. In PDF strategy, each source has to know CSI between relay and the other source for decoding, which causes extra protocol complexity. Moreover, for the system in which all nodes have two antennas, classical PDF strategy does not satisfy orthogonality at the end nodes. Therefore, in this paper, a modified‐PDF (MPDF) strategy with limited feedback is proposed. In MPDF, for decoding at the end nodes, differential phase information between channel fading coefficients having maximum amplitudes is fed back to the sources by relay. This approach enables single‐symbol decoding, besides full diversity, and sources do not need to know CSI between relay and the other source. It is shown via computer simulations that MPDF strategy provides significantly better BER performance than the classical PDF for BPSK and QPSK modulations.Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

ADS‐B aided robust relay selection for cooperative communications in aircraft approach

The ground‐to‐air communications in the aircraft approach stage suffer from multipath fading. We propose to combat this problem using cooperative communication technique. The relay selection problem is formulated to minimize the spectrum cost while preserving the signal‐to‐noise‐ratio (SNR) outage requirement of the approaching aircraft. By leveraging the position and velocity information in the automatic dependent surveillance‐broadcast messages, the average channel gains can be derived with uncertainty sets based on the Ricean channel model. Because the outage probability of the received SNR is intractable, we transform the outage constraint into a simple but efficient reliability requirement. The formulated problem is a mixed integer nonlinear optimization problem, with robustness in the worst‐case average SNR. A robust greedy relay selection algorithm is proposed as a solution, whereby a Kalman filter based trace prediction algorithm is adopted to determine the order of relays. Simulation results are given to show the effectiveness of the proposed scheme.Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Outage probability and channel capacity for the Nth best relay selection AF relaying over INID Rayleigh fading channels

Cooperative diversity systems have recently been proposed as a way to form virtual antenna schemes without utilizing collocated multiple antennas. In this paper, we consider the Nth best opportunistic amplify‐and‐forward (AF) cooperative diversity systems. The AF type can be regarded as one on the basis of modified channel state information. Wireless channels between any pair of nodes (i.e., direct and dual hop links) are assumed quasi‐static independent and nonidentically distributed (INID) Rayleigh fading. The best opportunistic AF (OAF) scheme requires two phases of transmission. During the first phase, the source node transmits a signal to all relays and the destination. In the second phase, the best relay is only selected on the basis of highest signal‐to‐noise ratio (SNR) scheme to forward the source signal to the destination. Therefore, the indirect link (i.e., source‐selected relay destination) can give the highest received SNR. However, the best relay selection cannot be available so that we might choose the second, third, or generally the Nth best relay. In this paper, we derive the approximated outage probability and channel capacity for the Nth best OAF relay systems over INID Rayleigh fading channels. At first, the indirect link's received SNR is approximated as harmonic mean upper bound. With this information, we obtain the given relay's Nth best selection probability as the closed form. Finally, both outage probability and channel capacity are derived as the closed forms. Simulation results are finally presented to validate the analysis. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Opportunistic Decode‐and‐Forward Cooperation in Mixed Rayleigh and Rician Fading Channels

We consider a two‐hop multiple‐relay network implemented with opportunistic decode‐and‐forward cooperative strategy, where the first hop and second hop links experience different fading (Rayleigh and Rician). We derive the exact expressions of end‐to‐end outage probability and analyze the approximate results in high signal‐to‐noise ratio region. The analysis shows that the same diversity order can be achieved even in different mixed fading environments. Simulation results are provided to verify our analysis.     

A two‐hop equalize‐and‐forward relay scheme in OFDM‐based wireless networks over multipath channels

Relay communications have attracted increasing research attentions as a cost‐effective technique to improve spatial diversity, service coverage, and energy efficiency in wireless networks. However, existing relay schemes (e.g., amplify‐and‐forward and decode‐and‐forward (DF) schemes) still face several major challenges, particularly the accumulation of multipath channels effect in AF and long processing latency in DF. To address these issues, we propose a novel equalize‐and‐forward (EF) relay scheme to enhance the retransmission reliability while maintaining low processing delay at the relay node. In particular, the proposed EF relay estimates and equalizes the channel between source and relay to eliminate the channel accumulation effect without signal regeneration. To further reduce the relay processing time, the channel estimation and equalization in the proposed EF design are performed in parallel. The proposed equalization is realized by presetting the equalizer coefficients with the current channel response that is predicted in parallel using multiple past channel responses. Numerical results show that the proposed EF relay scheme can achieve comparable symbol error rate performance as the DF relay with much less relay latency. In addition, the EF relay exhibits low outage probability at the same data rate as compared with traditional amplify‐and‐forward and DF schemes. schemes. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd     

Serial relaying communications over generalized‐gamma fading channels

In this paper, a study on the end‐to‐end performance of multi‐hop non‐regenerative relaying networks over independent generalized‐gamma (GG) fading channels is presented. Using an upper bound for the end‐to‐end signal‐to‐noise ratio (SNR), novel closed‐form expressions for the probability density function, the moments, and the moments‐generating function of the end‐to‐end SNR are presented. Based on these derived formulas, lower bounds for the outage and the average bit error probability (ABEP) are derived in closed form. Special attention is given to the low‐ and high‐SNR regions having practical interest as well as to the Nakagami fading scenario. Moreover, the performance of the considered system when employing adaptive square‐quadrature amplitude modulation is further analyzed in terms of the average spectral efficiency, the bit error outage, and the ABEP. Computer simulation results verify the tightness and the accuracy of the proposed bounds. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Performance analysis of switch‐and‐stay combining in two‐way relay systems with analog network coding and time‐division broadcast protocols

In this paper, we consider switch‐and‐stay combining (SSC) in two‐way relay systems with two amplify‐and‐forward relays, one of which is activated to assist the information exchange between the two sources. The system operates in either analog network coding (ANC) protocol where the communication is only achieved with the help of the active relay or time‐division broadcast (TDBC) protocol where the direct link between two sources can be utilized to exploit more diversity gain. In both cases, we study the outage probability and bit error rate (BER) for Rayleigh fading channels. In particular, we derive closed‐form lower bounds for the outage probability and the average BER, which remain tight for different fading conditions. We also present asymptotic analysis for both the outage probability and the average BER at high signal‐to‐noise ratio. It is shown that SSC can achieve the full diversity order in two‐way relay systems for both ANC and TDBC protocols with proper switching thresholds. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A Linear Prediction Based Estimation of Signal‐to‐Noise Ratio in AWGN Channel

Most signal‐to‐noise ratio (SNR) estimation techniques in digital communication channels derive the SNR estimates solely from samples of the received signal after the matched filter. They are based on symbol SNR and assume perfect synchronization and intersymbol interference (ISI)‐free symbols. In severe channel distortion where ISI is significant, the performance of these estimators badly deteriorates. We propose an SNR estimator which can operate on data samples collected at the front‐end of a receiver or at the input to the decision device. This will relax the restrictions over channel distortions and help extend the application of SNR estimators beyond system monitoring. The proposed estimator uses the characteristics of the second order moments of the additive white Gaussian noise digital communication channel and a linear predictor based on the modified‐covariance algorithm in estimating the SNR value. The performance of the proposed technique is investigated and compared with other in‐service SNR estimators in digital communication channels. The simulated performance is also compared to the Cramér‐Rao bound as derived at the input of the decision circuit.     

Cooperative power allocation with partial channel information in multi‐cell multi‐user dual‐hop MIMO relay systems

This paper considers cooperative power allocation with the use of partial channel state information (CSI) in a multi‐user dual‐hop relay system with multiple antennas. The end‐to‐end capacity can be improved by dynamically allocating the transmit power of the base station and relay according to co‐channel interference caused by the adjacent relays. The proposed scheme allocates the transmit power in association with the eigenvalues and angle difference between the eigenvectors of transmit correlation matrices of the desired and interference channel. It is shown by means of upper‐bound analysis that the end‐to‐end capacity of the proposed scheme can be maximized in highly correlated channel environments when the principal eigenvectors of transmit correlation matrices of the desired and interference channel are orthogonal to each other. It is also shown that the proposed scheme is robust to the channel estimation error. Finally, the performance of the proposed scheme is verified by the computer simulation. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Impact of co‐channel interference on performance of dual‐hop wireless ad hoc networks over α−μ fading channels

In this work, we investigate the performance of a dual‐hop cooperative network over α?μ fading channels with the presence of co‐channel interference (CCI) at both the relay and destination nodes. Amplify‐and‐forward (AF) relaying is considered in the relay node. The upper bound of the signal‐to‐interference‐plus‐noise ratio (SINR) of the dual‐hop relay link is used to determine the system performance. The probability density function (PDF) and the cumulative distribution function (CDF) of the upper bound of the SINR are analyzed. The system performance is determined in terms of the outage and error probabilities. Numerical results are used to present the performance analysis of the system.     

Performance analysis of selective combining decode‐and‐forward relay networks over Nakagami‐n and Nakagami‐q fading channels

In this paper, we present the performance of selective combining decode‐and‐forward relay networks in independent and non‐identically distributed Nakagami‐n and Nakagami‐q fading channels by using the best–worse and the decoding‐set approaches. The outage probability, moment generation function, symbol error probability and average channel capacity are derived in closed‐form using the signal to noise ratio (SNR) statistical characteristics. After that, we analyze the outage probability at high SNRs, and then, we optimize it. Beside the optimum method, we have proposed a sub‐optimum adaptive method. Also, we derive the outage probability for the selection‐combining case with the direct link between the source and the destination. Finally, for comparison with analytical formulas, we perform some Monte‐Carlo simulations. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.