Performance Analysis of Amplify and Forward Based Cooperative Diversity in MIMO Relay Channels

Tight closed form lower bounds for the average bit error rate (BER) are derived for a dual hop cooperative network employing nonregenerative relays for the multiple input multiple output (MIMO) relay channel experiencing Rayleigh fading. The bounds are obtained for three different nonregenerative relaying schemes. The lower bounds for the BER are obtained using the moment generating function (MGF) approach by evaluating the MGF of the end-to-end equivalent signal to noise ratio (SNR) of the system. From the BER expressions obtained, we also show that the diversity order for the MIMO relay cooperative system with each relay having M antennas increases approximately by a factor M from that of a system with single-antenna relays. Simulation results confirm that the analytical expressions for the lower bounds are very tight and can thus be used to get approximate values of the BER.