The effect of line of sight propagation on performance of amplify-and-forward relay networks

In this paper we analyze the effect of line of sight signal propagation on performance of amplify-and-forward relay system with fixed gain amplification. Communication channel typical for such propagation scenario is described with Ricean fading statistic. Since this type of communication scenario is not widely explored in the literature, despite the fact that it is common in practice, we develop complete analytical model for performance evaluation of the considered system. Appropriate simulation model is also developed, which is used to confirm the validity of the numerically obtained results. Finally, we determine the level of system performance improvement, or equivalently the signal-to-noise ratio gain, due to the existence of line of sight signal component between the network nodes.