Performance Analysis of a Threshold-Based Relay Selection Algorithm in Wireless Networks

Relay selection is an effective method to realize the cooperative diversity gain in wireless networks. In this paper, we study a threshold-based single relay selection algorithm. A reasonable threshold value is set at each relay node, and the first relay with the instantaneous channel gain larger than the threshold will be selected to cooperate with the source. The exact and closed form expression for its outage probability is derived over independent, non-identically distributed (i.n.i.d) Rayleigh channels. The complexity of the algorithm is also analyzed in detail. Simulation results are presented to verify our theoretical analysis