Optimal linear detectors for nonorthogonal amplify-and-forward protocol

In this paper, we propose optimal linear detectors for non-orthogonal amplify-and-forward cooperative protocol when considering a single-relay scenario. Two types of detectors are proposed based on the principles of minimum mean square error (MMSE) and minimum bit error rate (MBER). The MMSE detector minimizes the mean square error, while the MBER minimizes the system bit error rate (BER). Both detectors exhibit excellent BER performance with relatively low complexity as compared to the maximal likelihood (ML) detector. The BER performance of both detectors is superior to the channel inversion, the maximal ratio combining, and the biased ML detectors.