Performance analysis of cooperative relaying scheme applying TAS/SC

Performance of cooperative communication systems can be improved effectively by using multiple input multiple output (MIMO) techniques at transmission links. We make use of amplify and forward cooperative relaying techniques with transmit antenna selection (TAS) and selection combining (SC) methods to present an effective transmission scheme. Applying TAS method at the transmitter and SC method at the receiver reduces hardware complexity at both sides as the required number of radio frequency chains is decreased. We assume that Rayleigh fading takes place at all links. We derive the probability density function of end-to-end SNR. Using this, we obtain the exact symbol error rate expression analytically for M-PSK modulation and verify our results via computer simulations for BPSK. We also derive a bound for error probability, assuming the link between relay and destination has sufficiently larger SNR than the other links. Using this bound, we analyze asymptotic diversity orders for several system configurations.