Analytical performance of AF relaying in satellite communication systems

In this paper, we address the problem of amplify-and-forward relaying in a mixed satellite-terrestrial communication system in which two earth stations (ES) communicate via a single antenna based satellite relay. The transparent satellite is used to relay the received signals from one ES to other ES. There is no direct path in between the two ESs. The ESs-satellite links are assumed to follow the Shadowed-Rician fading. An approximate expression for the symbol error rate of the considered system is obtained by using the moment generating function (MGF) of the instantaneous received signal-to-noise ratio. The derived expression of MGF contains finite number of summations of the Meijer-G function. The analytical diversity order of the system is also obtained by using an asymptotic property of the Meijer-G function. It is shown by simulation and analysis that the maximum achievable diversity order of the considered system is one.