Achieving the Lowest Outage Probability for Multi-Phase Cooperative Wireless Networks

The performance of a multi-phase cooperative communication is studied in a wireless network. Each node is a mobile module having multiple antennas (MA) or a group of sensors forming a virtual antenna array (VAA). The scenario comprises a number of multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) channels with mutually independent Rayleigh fading processes. A data frame from a signal source node is split into portions. Each portion is transmitted from a distinct node in a sequential manner to the destination node. First, we give the criterion on how to select wireless nodes for achieving the lowest outage probability of information capacity. Second, the analytical expressions of the optimal frame splitting (FS) ratios are derived for arbitrary signal-to-noise (SNR) situations. This is fulfilled by employing Gaussian approximations of those random MIMO channel capacities. Finally, we examine the optimal FS ratios in high-SNR regime. The theoretical results are useful to designing cooperative communication protocols.