Detectors for Cooperative Mesh Networks With Decode-and-Forward Relays

We consider mesh networks composed of groups of relaying nodes which operate in decode-and-forward mode. Each node from a group relays information to all the nodes in the next group. We study these networks in two setups, one where the nodes have complete state information about the channels through which they receive the signals, and another when they only have the statistics of the channels. We derive recursive expressions for the probabilities of errors of the nodes and present several implementations of detectors used in these networks. We compare the mesh networks with multihop networks formed by a set of parallel sections of multiple relaying nodes. We demonstrate with numerous simulations that there are significant improvements in performance of mesh over multihop networks in various scenarios.