Performance analysis of distributed transmission schemes in cooperative random networks

In this paper, two distributed transmission schemes, namely Distributed Transmitter Maximal Ratio Combining (D-TxMRC) and Distributed Space Time Block Coding (D-STBC) are analysed. The array and diversity gain inherent to the underlying Multiple Input Multiple Output (MIMO) technique are studied, both under independent and correlated fading scenario. It is shown that D-TxMRC is capable of achieving high array gain at the expense of complexity, while only limited array gain is attained using D-STBC scheme. As far as diversity gain is concerned, both schemes achieve full diversity in the order of total number of cooperating nodes under independent fading. The overall performance of the schemes under random network scenario is analysed using average outage probability as a performance metric. The averaging encompasses channel variation as well as network dependent parameters. Effects of different network parameters towards system performance are also analysed. Finally, the performance of cooperative schemes in a more practical network with regular node placements are also studied.