Dual-hop multi-input multi-output relay systems over spatially correlated Nakagami-m fading channels

The authors study the performance of a dual-hop plus a direct link multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) wireless communication system using orthogonal space-time block codes. The system under consideration is based on the decode-and-forward relaying protocol and operates over spatially correlated Nakagami-m fading channels. The proposed analysis is generic enough to account for any MIMO correlation model either from measurements or having theoretical and analytical justification. Analytical expressions for the system end-to-end outage and average symbol error probability are obtained, while critical parameters of the MIMO channel are taken into consideration such as the angle of arrival, the antenna array configuration, the wavelength and non-isotropic scattering conditions. Various numerical and computer simulation results demonstrate the proposed mathematical analysis and the impact of the above parameters to the system performance.