Switched diversity strategies for dual-hop relaying systems

This paper investigates the effect of different switched diversity configurations on the implementation complexity and achieved performance of dual-hop amplify-and-forward (AF) relaying networks. A low-complexity model of the relay station is adopted, wherein single-input single-output antenna configuration is employed. Each of the transmitter and the receiver however employs multiple antennas to improve the overall link performance. Single-phase and two-phase based receive switching strategies are investigated assuming optimum first hop signal-to-noise ratio (SNR). Moreover, the simple scheme in which the switched diversity is applied independently over the two hops is studied using tight upper bounds. Thorough performance comparisons and switching thresholds optimization for the aforementioned strategies are presented. Simulation results are also provided to validate the mathematical development and to verify the numerical computations.