Low-Complexity Detection Scheme for Cooperative MIMO Systems With Decode-and-Forward Relays

In this paper, we study low-complexity detection schemes for cooperative multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) systems with decode-and-forward (DF) relays. In fixed DF protocols, the error propagation effect that limits the diversity gain can be overcome by using joint maximum-likelihood (JML) detection, but its complexity increases exponentially with the number of streams and modulation orders. To develop a low-complexity detection scheme, we first extend the cooperative maximum-ratio combining (C-MRC) scheme to MIMO relay networks, and then investigate the diversity order of the system. We show that C-MRC achieves full diversity gain for orthogonal space-time code, but its diversity gain is limited when the deployed space-time code is non-orthogonal. To address this problem, we propose an effective detection scheme that is applicable to arbitrary space-time codes. On the basis of pairwise error probability approximation, max-log approximation, and the Chernoff bound, we construct an equivalent point-to-point MIMO signal model, and then apply tree-search detection techniques. Compared to JML, the proposed detection scheme significantly reduces the detection complexity while preserving diversity gain. Moreover, it can be readily extended to complex-field network-coding systems whose performance is superior to that of Galois-field network-coding systems. Analysis and simulation results confirm the efficiency of the proposed scheme.