SER and PER Performance of Packet Decode-and-Forward Relaying With Generalized Order Selection Combining

This letter studies the generalized order selection combining (GOSC) scheme in the packet decode-and-forward relay systems, where the i₁^th, i₂^th, ⋯, and i_K^th best relays are selected. The GOSC scheme can be applied to the cases that some best relays are unavailable because of load balancing and rate limitation. The average symbol error rate (SER) and packet error rate (PER) are investigated. The choice probabilities of the possible best relays are discussed as well. Analysis reveals that the SER and PER achieve the same diversity order. We also show that the simulation results coincide with the derived expressions.