Cooperative network coding in selective decode-and-forward networks with multiple source-destination pairs

In this paper, a cooperative network coding scheme is proposed for a two-stage selective decode-and-forward relaying network with multiple source-destination pairs. In particular, based on employing Best-Select cooperation to perform relay selection, the selected best relay performs network coding on the correctly decoded information from all the sources, by transmitting a random linear combination of the columns in an underlying full-rate full-diversity perfect STBC matrix. A decentralized implementation with minimal overhead is presented. Under realistic propagation conditions, including the effects of path-loss and flat Rayleigh fading, the performance in term of the single-pair outage probability is evaluated. Simulation results show that, when compared with non-cooperative direct transmission, the proposed cooperative network coding scheme can achieve much better performance while also achieving full-rate re-transmission for each single source-destination pair.