Cooperative transmission based on decode-and-forward relaying with partial repetition coding

We propose a novel half-duplex decode-and-forward relaying scheme based on partial repetition coding at the relay. In the proposed scheme, if the relay decodes the received message successfully, it re-encodes the message using the same channel code as the one used at the source, but retransmits only a fraction of the codeword. We analyze the proposed scheme and optimize the cooperation level (i.e., the fraction of the message that the relay should transmit). We compare our scheme with conventional repetition in which the relay retransmits the entire decoded message, with parallel coding, and additionally with dynamic decode-and-forward (DDF). We provide a finite-SNR analysis for all the collaborative schemes. The analysis reveals that the proposed partial repetition method can provide a gain of several dB over conventional repetition. It also shows that in general, power allocation is less important provided that one optimally allocates bandwidth. Surprisingly, the proposed scheme is able to achieve the same performance as that of parallel coding for some relay network configurations, but at a much lower complexity.