Cooperative opportunistic beamforming using integrated relay node prototype

Presented in this article is a way to implement cooperative opportunistic beamforming using an all-analogue relay node. Unlike most cooperative transmission schemes, this approach does not require signal delay buffers or synchronisation at the relay. As a result, a very simple, all-analogue relay design is possible. The measured performance of an integrated prototype of the relay is used, to predict the throughput improvement cooperative opportunistic beamforming that will achieve on a multi-user link.