Optimal configuration of wireless cooperative networks

The use of multiple antennas at the transmitter or receiver is an affective way to counter the adverse effects of fading in wireless channels. Cooperative networks provide spatial diversity, which is especially advantageous when having more than one antenna at network terminals is not practical or cost-effective. The practical implementation of cooperative systems requires a suitable algorithm for the selection of relay terminals. In this paper, we present a methodology for configuration of cooperative networks for minimizing the overall system error rate or utilizing the minimum number of relay stations to achieve a particular error rate performance.