Performance Analysis of Beamforming in Two Hop Amplify and Forward Relay Networks

The performance of beamforming in a two hop amplify and forward (AF) relay network is analyzed. This network consists of a single relay which is used to amplify and forward the signal from the source to the destination. The source and destination are both equipped with multiple antennas while the relay has a single antenna. In this paper, we derive closed form expressions for the outage probability and probability density function of the received SNR. We also present exact symbol error rate expressions for the two hop AF relay network and show that full spatial diversity order, which corresponds to the minimum number of antennas at the source and destination, can be achieved. Our analytical results are confirmed through comparison with Monte Carlo simulations.