Relay Subset Selection and Fair Power Allocation for Best and Partial Relay Selection in Generic Noise and Interference

Abstract

Best relay selection (BRS) has received considerable attention in the literature as it makes efficient use of the system resources and achieves full diversity. Partial relay selection (PRS) is an alternative to BRS and performs relay selection based on local channel state information (CSI) only at the expense of a loss in diversity. Although, in practice, relays may be deployed in unfavorable environments exposing them to non-Gaussian impairments, existing analyses and design guidelines for BRS and PRS are limited to additive white Gaussian noise channels. In this paper, we analyze the error rate of BRS and PRS in the asymptotic regime of high signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) for amplify-and-forward (AF) relays and impairment by generic noise and interference. The derived analytical results are valid for Gaussian and non-Gaussian noises with finite moments, independent and non-identically distributed Rayleigh fading, and arbitrary linear modulation schemes. In order to reduce the signaling overhead required for CSI acquisition, we propose a relay subset selection scheme for BRS and PRS. Furthermore, to guarantee fairness in energy resource usage across the relays, we introduce a fair and flexible power allocation scheme with energy consumption constraints which does not affect the achievable diversity gain. The proposed relay subset selection and power allocation schemes only require knowledge of the average CSI of the links and certain moments of the noises impairing the relays and the destination.