Approximated Error Performance of MQAM Burst Transmission for Relay Systems over Rayleigh Fading Channels

In this paper, we derive the averaged bit and symbol error probabilities as approximated closed-forms for M-ary quadrature amplitude modulation (MQAM) burst transmission of adaptive decode-and-forward (ADF) relay systems over quasi-static Rayleigh fading channels. Within a burst, there are pilot symbols and data symbols. Pilot symbols are used for channel estimation schemes and each relay node´s transmission mode selection schemes. The approximated error rate expression is verified based on the number of relays, pilot, and data symbols. Its accuracy is confirmed by comparing with simulation results.