A Novel Cooperative Diversity Based on Multilevel Coded Modulation

We propose a novel cooperative diversity using multilevel coded modulation which can perform with arbitrary number of cooperative nodes. The proposed multilevel coded cooperation makes use of a signal superposition, which is one form of analog network coding techniques. Due to the ability and flexibility of a multilevel coded modulation, the proposed multilevel coded cooperation can outperform not only a time-division cooperative diversity but also a signal superposition cooperative diversity in the case where the number of cooperating nodes is more than two. Moreover, achievable outage probability and channel capacity are analyzed and two design criteria based on the analysis are proposed.