Analysis of relay capacity over generalized fading channels with cochannel interference

Relay deployment performance, such as site planing and dimensioning, highly depends on the capacity of the wireless relay link. However, latter´s performance can be severely harmed due to cochannel interference (CCI), particularly with the current aggressive reuse of the available radio spectrum. In this paper, we present an analytical framework for amplify-and-forward (AF) relay capacity that can be used for the deployment of two-hop cellular relay networks operating over generalized fading channels in the presence of cochannel interference. Nakagami-m and generalized-K distributions are used to model the relay and interference links in multipath and composite multipath/shadowing environments, respectively. Multiple antenna AF relaying systems employing transmit beamforming and maximum ratio combining (TB/MRC) are also investigated in the presence of CCI. The derived analytical results provide an efficient mathematical tool for the fast evaluation of the ergodic capacity of the system as well as for the investigation of the impact of key parameters such as fading, shadowing, number of antennas and CCI on the system´s ergodic capacity.