Performance analysis of selection

decode-and-forward relay networks

T.Q. Duong and V.N.Q. Bao
The performance of decode-and-forward (DF) co-operative networks
with relay selection is presented. Specically, closed-form expressions
are derived for symbol error probability, bit error rate, and the achiev-
able spectral efciency of the DF relay selection system in independent
but not identically distributed (INID) Rayleigh fading channels taking
into account the incapability of decoding the received signals cyclic
redundancy code at the relays. Monte-Carlo simulations were performed
to validate the analysis.
Introduction: Among previous research work of decode-and-forward
(DF) co-operative networks with relay selection, we distinguish those
of [13]. In [1, 2], it has been assumed that the relays only assist
direct communications if the signals from the source are correctly
decoded, i.e. the assumption of the perfect capability of decoding the
received signals cyclic redundancy code (CRC) at the relays has been
applied. Recently, by relaxing this assumption, the upper bound of bit
error rate (BER) for binary phase-shift keying (BPSK) has been investi-
gated when the fading channels between the source, relays, and desti-
nations are assumed to be independent and identically distributed
(IID) [3]. In [1], the outage probability of the DF relay selection combin-
ing has been shown. However, to the best of our knowledge there has
been no previous published work related to the performance analysis
for the symbol error probability (SEP), BER, and spectral efciency.
In this Letter, we express the probability distribution function (PDF)
of the instantaneous signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of the DF relay selection
combiner in a tractable form which is convenient to derive closed-form
expressions for SEP, BER, and achievable spectral efciency. We also
consider all links as independent but not identically distributed (INID)
Rayleigh fading channels and a practical aspect of relay detection, i.e.
without assuming that the relay can perfectly detect the CRC of received
signals.
Performance analysis: We consider a wireless relay network consisting
of one source, K DF relays and one destination. Each terminal is
equipped with a single antenna and operates in half-duplex mode. The
communication occurs in two hops. In the rst hop, the source broad-
casts the information to K relays. In the second hop, selection diversity
is applied, i.e. only the best relay is selected for forwarding the message
to the destination. We also assume the channels in two hops are quasi-
static Rayleigh fading. Finally, the transmit powers between two hops
are assumed identical. Denoting h
SR
k
and h
RD
k
where k 1, . . . , K as
the independent channel gains for the source-to-kth relay (S ! R
k
)
link and the kth relay-to-destination (R
k
! D) link, respectively, they
are modelled as zero-mean complex Gaussian random variables. The
exponentially distributed random variables jh
SRk
j
2
and jh
RDk
j
2
have
different hazard rates 1=V
SRk
and 1=V
RDk
, respectively. Dene the
instantaneous SNR for S ! R
k
and R
k
! D links as g
SRk
g
0
jh
SRk
j
2
and g
RDk
g
0
jh
RDk
j
2
, respectively, where g
0
is the average transmit
SNR.
Note that, owing to the imperfect detection at the relay, it may forward
incorrectly decoded signals to the destination. Hence, similarly as in [4],
for any modulation scheme the dual-hop S ! R
k
! D channel can be
modelled as an equivalent single hop whose output SNR g
eq
k
can be
tightly approximated in the high SNR regime as follows:
g
eq
k
minfg
SRk
; g
RDk
g 1
For the relay selection scheme, the signal with largest equivalent
received SNR is selected. Then the instantaneous SNR at the output
of the relay selection combiner can be given by
g
SC
max
k1;...;K
g
eq
k
2
Since g
SR
k
and g
RD
k
are exponentially distributed random variables
with hazard rates 1/g
0
V
SR
k
and 1/g
0
V
RD
k
, respectively, it is easy
to see from (1) that g
eq
k
is also an exponentially distributed
random variable with hazard rate a
k
1=g
0
V
SRk
1=g
0
V
SRk
. Then
the cumulative distribution function (CDF) of g
SC
, F
gSC
(g), can
be determined by
F
gSC
g Prfg
eq
1
, g; . . . ; g
eq
K
, gg

K
k1
F
geq
k
g

K
k1
1 expa
k
g
3
Taking the differentiation in (3) with respect to g, the PDF of g
SC
, P
gSC
(g), can be expressed as
p
gSC
g

K
i1
a
i
e
ai g

K
j1
j=i
1 e
aj g


K
k1
1
k1

K
n
1
;n
2
;...;n
k
1
n
1
,n
2
,n
k
b
k
e
b
k
g
_
_
_
_
4
where b
k

l1
k
a
n
l
. Observe that the PDF of g
SC
given in (4) is
expressed in a compact form which readily enables us to derive the
closed-form formulas for SEP, BER, and spectral efciency.
A. Symbol error probability: Using the moment generating function
(MGF) approach [5], we derive the closed-form expression of SEP for
the DF relay selection system. In this Letter, we consider only the
M-ary phase-shift keying signals (M-PSK) for SEP owing to space limit-
ation. However, the closed-form expression of SEP for a broad class of
M-ary and binary signals can be determined in the same manner. In par-
ticular, the SEP of our relay selection scheme for M-PSK modulation
can be given by
P
s

1
p
_
pp=M
0
F
g
SC
g
sin
2
u
_ _
du 5
where g sin
2
(p/M) and F
gSC
(s) is the MGF of g
SC
dened as
F
gSC
(s) Eg
SC
fexp(2g
SC
s). Taking the expectation with respect to
the random variable gSC whose PDF is given in (4) yields the result
of F
gSC
(s) and substituting it in (5) we obtain the closed-form
expression for SEP (after some simple manipulations) as follows:
P
s


K
k1
1
k1

K
n
1
;...;n
k
1
n
1
,,n
k
z
1
k
1
4
2
F
1
1;
1
2
; 2;
1
z
k
_ _ _
_
_

j
p
F
1
1
2
;
1
2
; 1;
3
2
; j
2
;
j
2
z
k
_ ___
6
where j cos(p/M), z
k
1 g/b
k
. Furthermore,
2
F
1
(a, b; c; z) is the
Gauss hypergeometric function dened as [6, eqn. 2.12.(1)] and F
1
(a, b,
b
0
; c; u, v) is the Appell hypergeometric function whose integral rep-
resentation is given in [6, eqn. 5.8.(5)].
B. Bit error rate: The BER of the DF relay selection in Rayleigh fading
channels for M-ary quadrature amplitude (M-QAM) modulation (M
4
m
, m 1, 2, . . .) with Gray mapping can be given as [7]
P
b

_
1
0
1

M
p
log
2

M
p

log
2

M
p
j1

qj
i0
w
j
i
erfc

x
i
g
p
p
gSC
gdg 7
where q
j
(1 22
2j
)
p
M21, w
i
j
(21)
bi2
j21
/
p
Mc
(2
j21
2bi2
j21
/
p
M
1/2c), x
i
(2i 1)
2
3log
2
M/2M22. Furthermore, we dene bxc
and erfc(x) as the oor and complementary error function, respectively.
Substituting (4) into (7) and taking the integral with respect to g, we
achieve the closed-form expression for BER as follows:
P
b

1

M
p
log
2

M
p

log
2

M
p
j1

qj
i0
w
j
i

K
k1
1
k1

K
n
1
;...;n
k
1
n
1
,,n
k
1

x
i
b
1
k
1 x
i
b
1
k
_ _ _
_
_
_
_
8
C. Spectral efciency: The achievable spectral efciency of the DF
relay selection scheme can be expressed as
C E
gSC
1
2
log
2
1 gSC
_ _

1
2 ln 2

K
k1
1
k1

K
n
1
;...;n
k
1
n
1
,,n
k
e
b
k
G0; b
k

9
where Ga; x is the incomplete Gamma function.
ELECTRONICS LETTERS 25th September 2008 Vol. 44 No. 20
Numerical results and discussion: In this Section, we report the per-
formance of Monte-Carlo simulations and compare them with our
analytical results for the three considered performance metrics: SEP,
BER, and achievable spectral efciency. We consider three DF relays
(K 3), QPSK, 16-QAM modulation, and R 2bits/s/Hz for two
topologies: 1. the symmetric case (V
SR
1
V
SR
2
V
SR
3
1, V
RD
1

V
RD
2
V
RD
3
3) and 2. the asymmetric case (V
SR
1
1, V
SR
2
4,
V
SR
3
8, V
RD
1
2, V
RD
2
3, V
RD
3
6). The performance of SEP,
outage probability, and achievable spectral efciency for the DF relay
selection system are shown in Figs. 1, 2, and 3, respectively. It can
clearly be seen from the three Figures that simulation curves match
exactly with analytical ones.
10
6
0 5 10
QPSK modulation
K = 3
15
SNR, dB
analysis (symmetric)
simulation (symmetric)
analysis (asymmetric)
simulation (asymmetric)
20 25 30
10
5
s
y
m
b
o
l

e
r
r
o
r

p
r
o
b
a
b
i
l
i
t
y
10
4
10
3
10
2
10
1
10
0
Fig. 1 SEP of DF relay selection system
0 5 10 15
SNR, dB
20 25 30
10
6
10
5
b
i
t

e
r
r
o
r

r
a
t
e
10
4
10
3
10
2
10
1
10
0
16-QAM modulation
K = 3
analysis (symmetric)
simulation (symmetric)
analysis (asymmetric)
simulation (asymmetric)
Fig. 2 BER of DF relay selection system
0
0
2
a
v
e
r
a
g
e

s
p
e
c
t
r
a
l

e
f
f
i
c
i
e
n
c
y
,

b
i
t
/
s
/
H
z
4
6
5 10 15
SNR, dB
20 25 30
analysis (symmetric)
simulation (symmetric)
analysis (asymmetric)
simulation (asymmetric)
K = 3
Fig. 3 Achievable spectral efciency of DF relay selection system
Conclusion: We have derived closed-form expressions of SEP, BER,
and achievable spectral efciency for the DF relay selection scheme in
Rayleigh fading channels. Our analysis covers the general cases, i.e. dis-
similar fading parameters for all links and no assumption of perfect
decoding received signals CRC at relays. Our analytical expressions
have been veried by comparing with Monte-Carlo simulations.
# The Institution of Engineering and Technology 2008
6 July 2008
Electronics Letters online no: 20081952
doi: 10.1049/el:20081952
T.Q. Duong (Radio Communications Group, Blekinge Institute of
Technology, PO Box 520, Ronneby SE-372 25, Sweden)
E-mail: quang.trung.duong@bth.se
V.N.Q. Bao (Department of Electrical Engineering, University of
Ulsan, San 29 of MuGeo Dong, Nam-Gu, Ulsan 680-749, Korea)
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