Implementation of Full-Diversity Distributed STBC in Cluster-Based Cooperative Communication

In this paper, we present the concept of cluster-based cooperation in which geographically dispersed neighboring nodes collectively transmit information to a distant receiver in the form of distributed space-time block codes. In this context, a new distributed space-time block code transmission strategy is introduced, which is not constrained by the rigid requirement of perfect decoding among participating nodes, and attains full spatial diversity even if one or all cooperating nodes encounter error in decoding information of each other. We also present a hybrid of direct and multihop transmission strategy in which an intermediate MIMO relay station cooperates with the nodes with single antenna. Numerical analyses of the proposed schemes demonstrate significant performance improvements in comparison to decode-forward and direct transmission schemes.