Performance Analysis for Multihop Relaying Channels with Nakagami-m Fading: Ergodic Capacity Upper-Bounds and Outage Probability

This paper investigates the ergodic capacity and outage probability performance of multihop relaying networks subject to independent non-identically distributed Nakagami-m fading. Particularly, we exploit a typical amplify-and-forward relaying system with an arbitrary number of cooperative intermediate relays and no direct link between the source and destination nodes. In our analysis, channel state information is assumed to be known only at the receiving nodes and the cooperative links may have distinct fading parameters and distinct average signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) levels. In this context, a tight closed-form upper bound expression for the ergodic capacity is derived. For this, firstly the moment generating function (MGF) of the inverse of the end-to-end SNR is obtained in closed-form. Then, making use of this expression, an upper bound for the ergodic capacity is attained. Thereafter, we investigate the end-to-end outage probability performance of the multihop relaying channels in Nakagami-m fading by making use of the aforementioned MGF expression. Finally, Monte-Carlo simulation results are provided and show the tightness of the proposed bounds.