Distributed relay selection for MIMO-SDM cooperative networks

In this paper, we consider an amplify-and-forward cooperative wireless network in which network nodes use multiple input multiple output (MIMO) spatial division multiplexing (SDM) to communicate with one another. We examine the problem of distributed cooperative relay selection and signal combining at the destination. First, we propose three distributed relay selection algorithms based on the maximum channel gains, the maximum harmonic mean of the channel gains, and the minimum mean squared error (MSE) of the signal estimation. Second, we propose a minimum mean square error (MMSE) signal combining scheme which jointly serves as the optimal signal combiner and interference canceler. It is shown that the MSE selection together with the MMSE combining achieves the maximal diversity gain. We also show that in MIMO-SDM cooperative networks increasing the number of candidate nodes does not help to improve the BER performance as opposed to the cooperative networks where each node is equipped with only single antenna. A practical approach to implementation of the combiner based on the current wireless access network protocols will also be presented. © 2012 The Institute of Electronics, Information and Communication Engineers.