Performance analysis of dual‐hop dual‐branch amplify‐and‐forward relaying cooperative diversity system using best‐path selection technique over Nakagami‐m fading channels

One of the promising technologies for achieving virtual diversity gains is cooperative relaying. This study considers a dual‐hop dual‐branch cooperative diversity system with an amplify‐and‐forward mechanism where the hop count here means the total number of relays between source and destination which equals two. Utilizing the best‐path selection combining technique, a closed‐form formula for the average bit error rate and outage probability is obtained. Furthermore, between the nodes in the two branches, we consider independent non‐identical Nakagami‐m slow flat fading channels. The Monte Carlo simulation results are confirmed with the analytical ones. A dual‐hop dual‐branch amplify‐and‐forward relaying cooperative diversity system utilizing best‐path selection technique over Nakagami‐m fading channels is proposed. Closed‐form expressions for the average bit error rate and outage probability are derived. Monte Carlo simulation results are confirmed with the analytical ones.