Delay Synchronization Scheme for Distributed Space-Time Block Coded Transmission in 2-Hop Cooperative Relaying System

Most research on distributed space-time block coding (D-STBC) has assumed that cooperative relay nodes are perfectly synchronized, for the delay destroys the required spacetime signal structure. However, in most practical distributed scenario, perfect synchronization is hard to achieve. To deal with it, this paper applies front end prefilter (FEP) as a delay synchronization scheme which accomplishes both delay synchronization and compensation. In the cooperative diversity strategy, the relay node exploits amplify-and-forward (AF) and decode-and-forward (DF) relaying patterns to assist the source node. Based on the platform of 2-hop cooperative relaying system, the results of Monte-Carlo simulations prove that FEP can make contribution to good bit error rate (BER) performance.