On Bit Error Performance of Full-Rate Signal Space Cooperative Communication over Nakagami-m Fading Channels

Signal space cooperative (SSC) system can realize full-rate transmission while achieving maximum cooperative diversity gain at the same time by using the signal space diversity technique. In this letter, we investigate the bit error rate (BER) performance of the SSC system over independent and non-identically distributed (i.ni.d.) Nakagami-m fading channels. Particularly, an accurate analytical expression for the overall BER is derived. Moreover, a tight approximation for the BER is obtained to reveal that the achievable diversity order of the SSC system is {{m}_{SD}}+\min { {{m}_{SR}},{{m}_{RD}} }, where m_SD, m_SR, and m_RD are the Nakagami fading parameters for the source-destination, source-relay, and relay-destination channels, respectively. Simulation results are presented to verify our theoretical analysis.