Achievable diversity-vs-multiplexing tradeoffs in half-duplex cooperative channels

In this paper, we propose novel cooperative transmission protocols for delay limited coherent fading channels consisting of N (half-duplex and single-antenna) partners and one cell site. In our work, we differentiate between the cooperative relay, broadcast, and multiple-access channels. The proposed protocols are evaluated using the Zheng-Tse diversity-multiplexing tradeoff. For the relay channel, we investigate two classes of cooperation schemes; namely, amplify and forward (AF) and decode and forward (DF). For the first class, we propose a new AF protocol and show it to outperform the space-time coded protocol of Laneman and Wornell without requiring decoding/encoding at the relays. For the class of DF protocols, we develop a dynamic decode and forward (DDF) protocol that achieves the optimal tradeoff for multiplexing gains 0 ≤ r ≤ 1/N. Furthermore, with a single relay, the DDF protocol is shown to dominate the class of AF protocols for all multiplexing gains. The superiority of the DDF protocol is shown to be more significant in the cooperative broadcast channel. The situation is reversed in the cooperative multiple-access channel where we propose a new AF protocol that achieves the optimal tradeoff for all multiplexing gains. A distinguishing feature of the proposed protocols in the three scenarios is that they do not rely on orthogonal subspaces, allowing for a more efficient use of resources.