Coding for the Non-Orthogonal Amplify-and-Forward Cooperative Channel

In this work, we consider the problem of coding for the half-duplex non-orthogonal amplify-and-forward (NAF) cooperative channel. We derive bounds on the diversity order of this protocol that are achieved by a distributed space-time bit-interleaved coded modulation (D-ST-BICM) scheme under iterative APP detection and decoding. These bounds lead to the design of space-time precoders that ensure maximum diversity and high coding gains. Word error rate performance is compared to outage probability through Monte Carlo simulations.