Symbol Error Rate Performance Analysis of Decode and Forward Cooperative Communication System

Abstract In this paper, we investigate the performance of decode and forward (DF) in multiple-relay networks. We consider a cooperative diversity system where a source sends information to the destination with the aid of multirelay working in DF relaying protocol and investigate the optimal power allocation (OPA) at both the source and the relay nodes. By taking advantage of the moment generating function (MGF), a closed form expression for the symbol error rate (SER) and signal to noise ratio (SNR) for both, M phase shift keying (MPSK) and M quadrature amplitude modulation (MQAM) signals has been derived to illustrate the asymptotic performance of the DF system where the approximation SER is tight at high SNR. Results show that the proposed system, based on SER lower bound is tight to the theoretical SER upper bound, and the suggested OPA outperforms the equal power allocation (EPA) and at different number of relays.