Rateless spinal code for decode-and-forward relay channel

A practical rateless coding framework for the half-duplex decode-and-forward (DF) relay channel is proposed in this paper. Rateless spinal codes are employed as the basic coding strategy in our coding framework and a cooperative decoder for the destination is proposed. Moreover, by introducing the concepts of equivalent code and equivalent channel, we prove that the proposed coding framework is capable of achieving the maximum transmission rate of the half-duplex DF relay channel. We also verify our analysis with simulations. And simulation results indicate that the proposed coding framework is robust and efficient when the channel condition varies.