BER Performance of Decode-and-Forward Relaying Using Equal-Gain Combining over Rayleigh Fading Channels

This paper provides a closed form expression for calculating the bit error rate of the decode-and-forward relay protocol that uses equal-gain combining (EGC) at the destination with an arbitrary number of relays. We have shown that EGC technique for decode-and-forward relay scheme offers remarkable diversity advantage over direct transmission. In addition, we also study the impact of combining techniques on the performance of the system by comparing a system that uses EGC to one that uses maximum ratio combining (MRC) & selection combining (SC). Simulations are performed to confirm our theoretical analysis.