Dual-Hop Amplify-and-Forward Multi-Relay Maximum Ratio Transmission

In this paper, the performance of dual-hop multi-relay maximum ratio transmission (MRT) over Rayleigh flat fading channels is studied with both conventional (all relays participate the transmission) and opportunistic (best relay is selected to maximize the received signal-to-noise ratio (SNR)) relaying. Performance analysis starts with the derivation of the probability density function, cumulative distribution function and moment generating function of the SNR. Then, both approximate and asymptotic expressions of symbol error rate (SER) and outage probability are derived for arbitrary numbers of antennas and relays. With the help of asymptotic SER and outage probability, diversity and array gains are obtained. In addition, impact of imperfect channel estimations is investigated and optimum power allocation factors for source and relay are calculated. Our analytical findings are validated by numerical examples which indicate that multi-relay MRT can be a low complexity and reliable option in cooperative networks.