A Joint Antenna and Path Selection for MIMO Cooperative Communication With Single Selective Decode and Forward Relay

In this paper, we consider a multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) cooperative communication system composed of single source, relay and destination. Selective decode and forward (S-DF) relaying protocol is used by the relay. A strategy is proposed using antenna and path selection with relay based S-DF protocol. Three method are used for path selection which are sum of maximums (Sum-Max), maximum of maximums (Max-Max) and minimum of maximums (Min-Max). Simulation results indicate that Min-Max method outperforms both Sum-Max and Max-Max methods. Also, using S-DF we can achieve better performance compared to path selection with classical DF protocol and also the sub-optimal antenna selection strategies.