On performance bounds of mixed amplify-and-forward and decode-and-forward cooperative relay systems

This paper analyzes the performance bonds of a wireless relay system that consists of several relays stations working on both amplifier-and-forward (AF) and decode-and-forward (DF) algorithms. We want to study the outage probability behavior of the proposed mixed AF and DF relay systems under independent Nakagami-m fading channels. In particular, we derive the lower and upper bounds of the outage probability of the proposed mixed AF and DF relay system based on MRC diversity combining with help of analytical methods. The results give the optimal configuration of AF and DF relays under a specific channel condition, and thus it helps us to configure the most suitable relay system in a generic fading environment. The trade-off between the complexity and performance issues is also discussed in this paper. In addition, we use computer simulations to verify the effectiveness of the proposed mixed AF and DF relay configurations.