Packet level analysis for AMC in a wireless cooperative communication system over Nakagami-m fading channels

We study a single-source single-destination wireless cooperative communication system with multiple relays operating in a modified decode-and-forward mode. Nakagami-m fading with additive white Gaussian noise is assumed for all inter-node channels. A packet feedback model is proposed to approximately characterize packet loss events in the wireless channel. An approximation to the steady state distribution of the proposed generalized discrete time M/G/1 queue at the source is obtained by state truncation. The packet level performance of four transmission modes is analyzed under a variety of channel and traffic conditions using this truncated model. The calculated network power is used as the criterion in finding boundary points for adaptive modulation and coding scheduling.