Performance analysis of wireless relay network using network coding and UAS

This paper analyzes the bit error probability for the proposed relaying protocol that applies a network coding to a communication system with a small unmanned aircraft (UA) in order to achieve diversity gain. We consider the scenario where the UA circles around above the fixed area automatically and it relays the signals between the two ground access points (GAPs) separately located with long distance. In this paper, assuming that channels are subject to Nakagami-Rice fading, the theoretical bit error probability expressions are developed. The accuracy of the analytical results are justified by the simulations. It is demonstrated that with judicious design of turning radius of UA, our proposed network coding based protocol can significantly improve the bit error performance compared with the conventional ferrying protocol, effectively bridging the long-range distance between the GAPs.