IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON COMMUNICATIONS 1

1 Adaptive Buffer-Aided Distributed Space-Time

2 Coding for Cooperative Wireless Networks
3 Tong Peng and Rodrigo C. de Lamare, Senior Member, IEEE

4 Abstract—This work proposes adaptive buffer-aided distributed extended to a distributed multiple-input and multiple-output 46
5 space-time coding schemes and algorithms with feedback for wire- (MIMO) network with full-diversity and full-rate, while an 47
6 less networks equipped with buffer-aided relays. The proposed optimal algorithm for the design of DSTC schemes that achieve 48
7 schemes employ a maximum likelihood receiver at the destina-
8 tion, and adjustable codes subject to a power constraint with the optimal diversity and multiplexing tradeoff has been derived 49
9 an amplify-and-forward cooperative strategy at the relays. The in [3]. A quasi-orthogonal distributed space-time block coding 50

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10 adjustable codes are part of the proposed space-time coding (DSTBC) scheme for cooperative MIMO networks is presented 51
11 schemes and the codes are sent back to relays after being updated and shown to achieve full rate and full diversity with any num- 52
12 at the destination via feedback channels. Each relay is equipped ber of antennas in [6]. In [20], an STC scheme that multiplies 53
13 with a buffer and is capable of storing blocks of received symbols
14 and forwarding the data to the destination if selected. Different a randomized matrix by the STC code matrix at the relay 54
15 antenna configurations and wireless channels, such as static block node before the transmission is derived and analyzed. The ran- 55
16 fading channels, are considered. The effects of using buffer-aided domized space-time coding (RSTC) schemes can achieve the 56
17 relays to improve the bit error rate (BER) performance are also performance of a centralized STC scheme in terms of coding 57
studied. Adjustable relay selection and optimization algorithms
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that exploit the extra degrees of freedom of relays equipped with
buffers are developed to improve the BER performance. We also
analyze the pairwise error probability and diversity of the system
when using the proposed schemes and algorithms in a coopera-
tive network. Simulation results show that the proposed schemes
and algorithms obtain performance gains over previously reported
techniques.
Index Terms—Buffer-aided communications,
ro
cooperative
gain and diversity order. The intuition behind RSTC is to let
each relay transmit an independent random linear combination
of the columns of an STC matrix, where each node transmits
signals with random gains and phases. A detailed study of ran-
domized matrices has been reported in [20], where the criterion
based on a uniform spherical randomized matrix that contains
uniformly distributed elements on the surface of a complex
hyper-sphere of radius ρ has been shown to achieve the best
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27 communications, distributed space-time coding.
BER performance. 66
28 I. I NTRODUCTION Relay selection algorithms such as those designed in [7], [8] 67
provide an efficient way to assist the communication between 68
29
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31
C OOPERATIVE relaying systems, which employ relay
nodes with an arbitrary number of antennas between the
source node and the destination node as a distributed antenna
the source node and the destination node. Although the best
relay node can be selected according to different optimization
69
70
criteria, conventional relay selection algorithms often focus on 71
32 array, can obtain diversity gains by employing space-time cod- the best relay selection (BRS) scheme [9], which selects the 72
33 ing (STC) schemes to improve the reliability of wireless links links with maximum instantaneous signal-to-noise ratio (SNR). 73
34 [1], [7]. In existing cooperative relaying systems, amplify- The best relay forwards the information to the destination which 74
35 and-forward (AF), decode-and-forward (DF) or compress-and- results in an improved BER performance. Recently, cooper- 75
36 forward (CF) [1] cooperation strategies are often employed
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ative schemes with more general configurations involving a 76

37 with the help of multiple relay nodes. source node, a destination node and multiple relays equipped 77
38 The adoption of distributed space-time coding (DSTC) with buffers has been introduced and analyzed in [10]–[18]. 78
39 schemes at relay nodes in a cooperative network, providing The main idea is to select the best link during each time slot 79
40 more copies of the desired symbols at the destination node, can according to different criteria, such as maximum instantaneous 80
41 offer the system diversity and coding gains which enable more SNR and maximum throughput. In [10], an introduction to 81
42 effective interference mitigation and enhanced performance. A buffer-aided relaying networks is given, and further analysis of 82
43 recent focus of DSTC techniques lies in the design of full- the throughput and diversity gain is provided in [11]. In [12] 83
44 diversity schemes with minimum outage probability [2]–[6]. In and [13], an adaptive link selection protocol with buffer-aided 84
45 [2], the generalized ABBA (GABBA) STC scheme has been relays is proposed and an analysis of the network throughput 85
Manuscript received May 12, 2015; revised October 15, 2015 and January and the outage probability is developed. A max-link relay selec- 86
22, 2016; accepted March 13, 2016. This work was supported by the National tion scheme focusing on achieving full diversity gain, which 87
Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq) in Brazil. The
associate editor coordinating the review of this paper and approving it for
selects the strongest link in each time slot is proposed in [14]. 88
publication was H. R. Bahrami. A max-max relay selection algorithm is proposed in [16] and 89
The authors are with the CETUC/PUC-RIO, Communications Research has been extended to mimic a full-duplex relaying scheme in 90
Group, Rio de Janeiro 22451-900, Brazil (e-mail: tong.peng@cetuc.puc-rio.br; [15] with the help of buffer-aided relays. Recent work on relay 91
delamare@cetuc.puc-rio.br).
Color versions of one or more of the figures in this paper are available online
selection strategies and power allocation algorithms has been 92
at http://ieeexplore.ieee.org. reported in [17] and [18]. In Luo and Teh’s work an optimal 93
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/TCOMM.2016.2544934 relay selection algorithm is designed based on the status of the 94

0090-6778 © 2016 IEEE. Personal use is permitted, but republication/redistribution requires IEEE permission.
See http://www.ieee.org/publications_standards/publications/rights/index.html for more information.
 2 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON COMMUNICATIONS

95 buffer, whereas Nomikos et al. [18] have investigated optimal relay selection information and optimized coding matrices are 153
96 power allocation and interference cancelation between relays. assumed known. We have studied the impact of feedback errors 154
97 Despite the early work with buffer-aided relays and its per- in [21], however, in this work we focus on the effects of using 155
98 formance advantages, schemes that employ STC techniques the proposed buffer-aided relay schemes, relay selection and 156
99 have not been considered so far. In particular, STC and optimization algorithms. The feedback is assumed to be error- 157
100 DSTC schemes encoded at the relays can provide higher free and the devices are assumed to have perfect or statistical 158
101 diversity order and higher reliability for wireless systems. In channel state information (CSI). The proposed relay selection 159
102 this work, we propose adjustable buffer-aided distributed and and optimization algorithms can be implemented with differ- 160
103 non-distributed STC schemes, relay selection and adaptive ent types of STC and DSTC schemes in cooperative relaying 161
104 buffer-aided relaying optimization (ABARO) algorithms for systems with DF or AF protocols. We first study the design 162
105 cooperative relaying systems with feedback. We examine two of adjustable STC schemes and relay selection algorithms for 163
106 basic configurations of relays with STC and DSTC schemes: single-antenna systems and then extend it to multiple-antenna 164

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107 one in which the coding is performed independently at the systems, which enable further diversity gains or multiplexing 165
108 relays [20], denoted multiple-antenna system (MAS) configu- gains. The proposed algorithms and schemes are also consid- 166
109 ration, and another in which coding is performed across the ered with DSTC schemes. In single-antenna networks, DSTC 167
110 relays [6], called single-antenna system (SAS) configuration. schemes are used with an arbitrary number of relays and a 168
111 According to the literature, STC schemes can be implemented group of relays is selected to implement the DSTC scheme. 169
112 at a single relay node with multiple antennas and DSTC In multiple-antenna networks, a complete DSTC scheme can 170
113 schemes can be used at multiple relay nodes with a single be obtained at each relay node and a superposition of multiple 171
antenna. Moreover, an adjustable STC scheme is developed in DSTC transmissions is received at the destination.
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121
mented at a multiple-antenna relay node and a DSTC scheme
ro
[21] which indicates that by using an adjustable coding vector
at single-antenna relay nodes, a complete STC scheme can be
implemented. In this work, we consider a STC scheme imple-

applied at a group of single-antenna relay nodes along with

adjustable STC and DSTC schemes at both types of relays.
Compared to relays without buffers, buffer-aided relays help
This paper is organized as follows. Section II introduces
a cooperative two-hop relaying systems with multiple buffer-
aided relays applying the AF strategy in SAS and MAS con-
figurations, respectively. In Section III the detailed adjustable
STC scheme is introduced. The proposed relay selection and
code optimization algorithms are derived in Section IV and
the DSTC schemes are considered in Section V. The analysis
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122 mitigate deep fading periods during communication between of the proposed algorithms is shown in Section VI, whereas 180
123 devices as the received symbols can be stored at the relays, in Section VII we provide the simulation results. Section VIII 181
124 which contributes to a significant BER performance improve- gives the conclusions of the work. 182
125 ment. Although the delay is a key issue for buffer-aided relays, Notation: the italic, the bold lower-case and the bold 183
126 their key advantage is to improve the error tolerance and trans- upper-case letters denote scalars,
p vectors and matrices,
p respec- 184
127 mission accuracy of the links in the network. Buffer-aided relay tively. The operator kXk F = Tr(X H · X) = Tr(X · XH ) is 185
128 schemes can be used in networks in which the delay is not an the Frobenius norm. Tr(·) stands for the trace of a matrix, and 186
129 issue and with delay tolerance. the N × N identity matrix is written as I N . 187
130 The proposed schemes, relay selection and ABARO opti-
131 mization algorithms can be structured into two parts, the first
one is the relay selection part which chooses the best link II. C OOPERATIVE S YSTEM M ODELS 188
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132
133 with the maximum instantaneous SNR or signal-to-interference- In this section, we introduce the cooperative system mod- 189
134 plus-noise ratio (SINR) and checks if the state of the best els adopted to evaluate the proposed schemes and algorithms. 190
135 relay node is available to transmit or receive, and the second We consider two relay configurations: SAS in which each 191
136 part refers to the optimization of the adjustable STC schemes node contains only a single antenna and MAS in which each 192
137 employed at the relay nodes. The adaptive buffer-aided relaying node contains multiple antennas. The feedback scheme con- 193
138 optimization (ABARO) algorithm is based on the maximum- sists of information conveyed from the destination node to 194
139 likelihood (ML) criterion subject to constraints on the transmit- the relay nodes, which includes indices representing the buffer 195
140 ted power at the relays for different cooperative systems. STC entries and the relays, and the parameters of the optimized cod- 196
141 schemes are employed at each relay node and an ML detec- ing matrices. We focus on the relay selection and adjustable 197
142 tor is employed at the destination node in order to ensure full code matrices optimization algorithms so that we assume 198
143 receive diversity. Suboptimal detectors can be also used at the that perfect or statistical CSI is available at the relays and 199
144 destination node to reduce the detection complexity. Moreover, destination nodes and perfect synchronization of all nodes. 200
145 stochastic gradient (SG) adaptive algorithms [19] are developed However, we remark that that CSI can be obtained in practice 201
146 in order to compute the required parameters at a reduced com- by using pilot sequences and cooperative channel estimation 202
147 putational complexity. We study how the adjustable codes can algorithms [22], [23]. 203
148 be employed at buffer-aided relays combined with relay selec-
149 tion and how to optimize the adjustable codes by employing
A. Cooperative System Models for SAS 204
150 an ML criterion. A feedback channel is required in the pro-
151 posed scheme and algorithms. All the computations are done In this section, we consider a two-hop system, which is 205
152 at the destination node so that the useful information, such as shown in Fig. 1 and consists of a source node, a destination 206
 PENG AND DE LAMARE: ADAPTIVE BUFFER-AIDED DISTRIBUTED SPACE-TIME CODING 3

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Fig. 1. Cooperative system model with nr relays and single-antenna nodes. Fig. 2. Cooperative system model with nr relays and multiple-antenna nodes.

207 node and nr relays. Each node contains a single antenna. Let
B. Cooperative System Models for MAS 238
208
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212
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215
s[ j] denote a block of modulated data symbols with length
of M and covariance matrix E s[ j]sH [ j] = σs2 I M , where σs2
 

denotes the signal power and j is the index of the blocks. We

assume that the channels are static over the transmission period
of s[ j]. The minimum buffer size is equal to the size of one
block of symbols, M, and the maximum buffer size is M J ,
where J is the maximum number of symbol blocks. In the first
hop, the source node sends the modulated symbol vector s[ j] to
ro In this section, we extend the single-antenna system model
to a two-hop multiple-antenna system that is shown in Fig. 2
Each node contains N ≥ 2 antennas. Let s[ j] denote a modu-
lated data symbol vector with length M, which is a block of
symbols in a packet. The data symbol vector s[ j] can be sent
from the source to the relays within one time slot since mul-
tiple antennas are employed. We assume that the channels are
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216 the relay nodes and the received data are given by static over the transmission period of s[ j] and, for simplicity, 246
we assume that N = M and the minimum buffer size is equal 247
to M. In the first hop, the source node sends s[ j] to the relay
p
rSRk [ j] = PS f SRk [ j]s[ j] + nSRk [ j], 248
nodes and the received data are described by 249
k = 1, 2, . . . , nr , j = 1, 2, . . . J, (1)
r
217 where f SRk [ j] denotes the CSI between the source node and PS
218 the kth relay, and nSRk [ j] stands for the M × 1 additive white rSRk [ j] = FSRk s[ j] + nSRk [ j],
N
219 Gaussian noise (AWGN) vector generated at the kth relay with k = 1, 2, . . . , nr , j = 1, 2, . . . J, (3)
220 variance σr2 . The transmit power assigned at the source node is
221 denoted as PS . At the relay nodes, in order to implement an STC
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222 scheme the received symbols are divided into i = M/N groups, where FSRk [ j] denotes the N × N CSI matrix between the 250
223 where N denotes the number of symbols required to encode an source node and the kth relay, and nSRk [ j] stands for the N × 1 251
224 STC scheme and whose value is different according to the STC AWGN vector generated at the kth relay with variance σr2 . At 252
225 adopted, e.g. N = 2 for the 2 × 2 Alamouti STBC scheme and each relay node, an adjustable code vector is randomly gener- 253
226 N = 4 for the linear dispersion code (LDC) scheme in [24]. ated before the forwarding procedure and the received data are 254
227 The transmission in the second hop is expressed as follows: expressed as: 255

p r
r Rk D [i] = PR g Rk D [i]crand [i] + n Rk D [i], PR
R Rk D [ j] = G Rk D [ j]V[ j]C[ j] + N Rk D [ j]
k = 1, 2, . . . , nr , i = 1, 2, . . . , M/N , (2) N
r
PR
228 where r Rk D [i] denotes the ith T × 1 received symbol vec- = G Rk D [ j]Crand [ j] + N Rk D [ j],
N
229 tor. The T × 1 adjustable STC scheme is denoted by crand [i],
230 and g Rk D [i] denotes the CSI factor between the kth relay and k = 1, 2, . . . , nr , j = 1, 2, . . . J, (4)
231 the destination node. The transmission power assigned at the
232 relay node is denoted as PR . The vector n Rk D [i] stands for the where C[ j] denotes the N × T standard STC scheme with T 256
233 AWGN vector generated at the destination node with variance being the number of codewords and V[ j] = diag{v[ j]} stands 257
234 σd2 . It is worth mentioning that during the transmission period for the N × N diagonal adjustable code matrix whose elements 258
235 of each group the channel is static. The details of adjustable are from the adjustable vector v = [v1 , v2 , . . . , v N ]. The N × T 259
236 STC encoding and decoding procedures are given in the next adjustable code matrix is denoted by Crand [ j]. An equivalent 260
237 section. representation of the received data is given by the received 261
 4 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON COMMUNICATIONS

262 vector r Rk D [ j], which replaces the received symbol matrix randomized vector encoding in (6). Therefore, the transmission 301
263 R Rk D [ j] in (4) and is written as of the randomized STC schemes can be described as: 302
p p
r
PR PS r = PT hcrand + n = PT hvC + n, (7)
r Rk D [ j] = Veq [ j]H[ j]s[ j]
N where h denotes the channel coefficient which is assumed to 303
r
PR be constant within the transmission time slots, and n stands 304
+ Veq [ j]G Rk D [ j]nsrk [ j] + n Rk D [ j] (5)
N for the noise vector. The decoding methods of the random- 305
r ized STC schemes are the same as that of the original STC 306
PR PS
= Veq [ j]H[ j]s[ j] + n[ j], schemes. At the destination, instead of the estimation of the 307
N channel coefficient h, the resulting composite parameter vector 308
264 where Veq [ j] = IT ×T ⊗ V[ j] denotes the T N × T N block vh is estimated. As a result, the transmission of a randomized 309
265 diagonal equivalent adjustable code matrix and ⊗ is the STC vector is similar to the transmission of a deterministic 310

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266 Kronecker product, and H[ j] stands for the equivalent channel STC scheme over an effective channel. Taking the randomized 311
267 matrix which is the combination of FSRk [ j] and G Rk D [ j]. The Alamouti scheme as an example, the linear ML decoding for 312
268 T N × 1 vector n[ j] contains the equivalent noise vector at the the information symbols s1 and s2 is given by 313
269 destination node, which can be modeled as AWGN with zero ∗
s˜1 = h rand1 r1 + h rand2r2∗ , s˜2 = h rand2
∗
r1∗ + h rand1r2∗ , (8)
270 mean and covariance matrix (σd2 + kVeq [ j]G Rk D [ j]k2F σr2 )I N T .
where h rand1 and h rand2 are the randomized channel coeffi- 314
cients in vh. Different decoding methods can be employed in 315
271

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276
III. A DJUSTABLE S PACE -T IME C ODING S CHEME
In this section, we detail the adjustable STC schemes in
the SAS and MAS configurations. The encoding procedure of
the adjustable coding schemes as compared to standard STC
and DSTC schemes is different in the SAS and the MAS
configuration, and we describe them in the following.
ro this context. In [21], optimization algorithms to compute the
randomized code vector v are proposed in order to obtain a
performance improvement.
Since the adjustable STC scheme is employed at the relay
node, the received vector r Rk D [i] in (2) can be rewritten as:
p
r Rk D [i] = PR PS Veq [i]h[i]s[i]
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p
+ PR Veq [i]g Rk D [i]nsrk [i] + n Rk D [i] (9)
277 A. Adjustable Space-Time Coding Scheme for SAS p
= PR PS Veq [i]h[i]s[i] + n[i],
278 Here, we develop the procedure of adjustable STC for the
279 SAS configuration. In [20] and [21], adjustable codes are where Veq [i] denotes the T × N block diagonal equivalent 321
280 employed to allow relays with a single antenna to transmit STC adjustable code matrix, and h[i] = f SRk [i]g Rk D [i] stands for 322
281 schemes. In the second hop, the whole packet will be forwarded the equivalent channel. The vector n[i] contains the equiva- 323
282 to the destination node. Due to the consideration of the per- lent noise vector at the destination node, which can be mod- 324
283 formance of an N × T STC scheme, the received packet is eled as AWGN with zero mean and covariance matrix (σd2 + 325
284 divided into i = M/N groups and each group contains N sym- kVeq [i]g Rk D [i]k2F σr2 )I N T . 326
285 bols. These N symbols will be encoded by an STC generation
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286 matrix and then forwarded to the destination. For example, sup- B. Adjustable Space-Time Coding Scheme for MAS 327
287 pose that a packet contains M = 100 symbols and the 2 × 2
288 Alamouti space-time block coding (STBC) scheme is used at In this section, the details of the adjustable STC encoding 328
289 the relay nodes. We first split rSRk into 50 groups, encode the procedure in the MAS configuration are given. As mentioned 329
290 symbols in the first group by the Alamouti STBC scheme and in the previous section, we assume M = N so that in the MAS 330
291 then multiply a 1 × 2 randomized vector v. The original 2 × 2 configuration we do not need to divide the received symbols 331
292 orthogonal Alamouti STBC scheme C results in the following into different groups to implement the adjustable STC scheme. 332
293 code: Take the 2 × 2 Alamouti STBC scheme as an example, the 333
adjustable STC scheme is encoded as: 334
 ∗ 2
rSRk 1 −rSR
crand = vC = [v1 v2 ] k
  ∗ 2
rSRk 1 −rSR
∗ 1
rSRk 2 rSR v1 0
(6) Crand = VC = ∗ 1
k
h k
i 0 v2 rSRk 2 rSRk
∗
= v1 rSRk 1 + v2 rSRk 2v2 rSR ∗
1 − v1 rSR 2 ,  ∗ 2
(10)
k k v1 rSRk 1 −v1rSR
= ∗ 1
k ,
v2 rSRk 2 v2 rSRk
294 where rSRk 1 and rSRk 2 are symbols in the first group, and the
295 1 × 2 vector v denotes the randomized vector whose elements where rSRk 1 and rSRk 2 are the first symbols in the separate 335
296 are generated randomly according to different criteria described groups, and the 2 × 2 matrix V denotes the randomized matrix 336
297 in [20]. As shown in (6), the 2 × 2 STBC matrix changes to a whose elements at the main diagonal are generated randomly 337
298 1 × 2 STBC vector which can be transmitted by a relay node according to different criteria described in [20]. The transmis- 338
299 with a single antenna in 2 time slots. Different STC schemes sion of the randomized STC schemes is described in (4) and the 339
300 such as the LDC scheme in [24] can be easily adapted to the decoding is given in (8). 340
 PENG AND DE LAMARE: ADAPTIVE BUFFER-AIDED DISTRIBUTED SPACE-TIME CODING 5

341 IV. A DAPTIVE B UFFER -A IDED STC A ND R ELAY computation of ŝ[i] is the same as the decoding procedure of 385
342 O PTIMIZATION A LGORITHMS the original STC schemes. In order to obtain the optimal code 386
343 In this section, the proposed ABARO algorithm in SAS is vector v[i], the cost function in (13) should be minimized with 387
344 derived in detail. The optimization in MAS follows a similar respect to the equivalent code matrix Veq [i] subject to a con- 388
345 procedure with different channel vectors so that we will skip straint on the transmitted power. The Lagrangian expression of 389
346 the derivation. The main idea of the proposed algorithm is to the optimization problem in (13) is given by 390
347 choose the best relay node which contains the highest instanta- p
L =kr[i] − PR PS Veq [i]h[i]ŝ[i]k2
348 neous SNR for transmission and reception in order to achieve (14)
349 full diversity order and higher coding gain as compared to stan- + λ(T r (Veq [i]VH
eq [i]) − PV ).
350 dard STC and DSTC designs. The relay nodes are assumed
351 to contain buffers to store the received data and forward the It is worth mentioning that the power constraint expressed in 391
352 data to the destination over the best available channels. In addi- (13) is ignored during the optimization of the adjustable code 392

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353 tion, the best relay node is always chosen in order to enhance and in order to enforce the power constraint, we introduce a 393
354 the detection performance at the destination. As a result, with normalization procedure after the optimization which reduces 394
355 buffer-aided relays the proposed ABARO algorithm will result the computational complexity. A stochastic gradient algorithm 395
356 in improved performance. is used to solve the optimization algorithm in (14) with lower 396
357 Before each transmission, the instantaneous SNR (SNRins ) computational complexity as compared to least-squares algo- 397
358 of the SR and R D links are calculated at the destination and rithms which require the inversion of matrices. By taking the 398
359 conveyed with the help of signaling and feedback channels [15]. instantaneous gradient of L, discarding the power constraint 399
360
361

362
The expressions for the instantaneous SNR of the SR and R D
links are respectively given by

SNRSRk [i] =
k f SRk [i]k2F
σr2
, SNR R k

and the best link is chosen according to

D [i] =
σd2
ro
kVeq [i]g Rk D [i]k2F
,
(11)
and equating it to zero, we obtain

∇L = − PR PS (r[i] − PR PS Veq [i]hŝ[i])ŝH [i]h H , (15)

p p

and the ABARO algorithm for the proposed scheme can be 401
expressed as follows
p
Veq [i + 1] =Veq [i] − µ PR PS (r[i]
402
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(16)
− PR PS Veq [i]hŝ[i])ŝH [i]h H [i],
p
SNRopt [i] = arg max SNRinsk,b [i], k = 1, 2, . . . , nr ,
k,b
b = 1, 2, . . . , B, i = 1, 2, . . . , M/N , (12) where µ is the step size. After the update of the equivalent 403
coding matrix Veq in SAS, we can recover the original cod- 404
363 where b denotes the occupied number of packets in the buffer. ing vector v[i] from the entries of the main diagonal of Veq . A 405
364 After the best relay is determined, the transmission described normalization of the original code vector v[i] that circumvents 406
365 in (1) and (2) is implemented. The SNRins is calculated first the power constraint in (13) is given by 407
366 and then the destination chooses a suitable relay which has
367 enough room in the buffer for the incoming data. For example, Pv
v[i + 1] = v[i + 1] p . (17)
368 if the kth SR link is chosen but the buffer at the kth relay node vH [i + 1]v[i + 1]
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369 is full, the destination node will skip this node and check the
370 state of the buffer which has the second best link. In this case Similarly, the ABARO algorithm in the MAS configuration 408
371 the optimal relay with maximum instantaneous SNR and min- can be implemented step-by-step as shown in (11) to (17). A 409
372 imum buffer occupation at a certain SNR level will be chosen summary of the ABARO algorithm in the MAS configuration 410
373 for transmission. is shown in Table I. 411
374 After the detection of the first group of the received symbol
375 vector at the destination node, the adjustable code v will be opti- V. B EST R ELAY S ELECTION W ITH DSTC S CHEMES 412
376 mized. The constrained ML optimization problem that involves
377 the detection of the transmitted symbols and the computation of In this section, we assume that the relays contain buffers and 413
378 the adjustable code matrix at the destination is written as employ DSTC schemes in the second hop for the SAS and MAS 414
h i p configurations. In particular, we also present the design of a best 415
ŝ[i], V̂eq [i] = argmin kr[i] − PR PS Veq [i]h[i]ŝ[i]k2 , group relay selection algorithm for performance enhancement. 416
s[i],Veq [i] The details of the deployment of DSTC schemes in the MAS 417
s.t. Tr(Veq [i]VH
eq [i]) ≤ PV , i = 1, 2, . . . , M/N , (13) configuration is similar to that in the SAS scheme. Therefore, 418
we will not repeat it to avoid redundancy. The main difference 419
379 where r[i] is the received symbol vector in the ith group and between the relay selection algorithm for DSTC schemes as 420
380 ŝ[i] denotes the detected symbol vector in the ith group. For compared to that for STC schemes is due to the fact that for 421
381 example, if the number of antennas N = 4 and the number DSTC schemes a group of relays is selected. Specifically for 422
382 of symbols stored at the buffer is M = 8, we have M/N = 2 DSTC schemes, the source node broadcasts data to all the relays 423
383 groups of symbols to implement the adjustable STC scheme. and a DF protocol is employed at the relays. After the detec- 424
384 According to the properties of the adjustable code vector, the tion, the proposed group relay selection algorithm is employed. 425
 6 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON COMMUNICATIONS

TABLE I
S UMMARY OF THE A DAPTIVE B UFFER -A IDED R ELAYING O PTIMIZATION A LGORITHM FOR MAS CONFIGURATION

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EP
IEE

426 It is important to notice that if the DSTC schemes are used at rSRk [ j] =
p
PS f SRk [ j]s[ j] + nSRk [ j], k = 1, 2, . . . , nr ,
427 the relays, each relay has to contain one copy of the modulated
428 symbol vector which means in the first hop the source node can- j = 1, 2, . . . , J, (18)
429 not choose the best relay but only broadcast the symbol vector where s[ j] is a block of symbols with length of M, f SRk [ j] 438
430 to all relays. The adjustable code vectors can be considered at denotes the CSI and nSRk [ j] stands for the M × 1 AWGN. The 439
431 each relay as well. transmission power assigned at the source node is denoted as 440
PS . After the detection at the kth node, ŝk can be obtained. The 441
relays are then divided into m = NDSTC /nr groups to imple- 442
432 A. DSTBC Schemes
ment the DSTC scheme, where NDSTC denotes the number of 443
433 In this subsection, we detail the DSTBC scheme used in this antennas to form the DSTC scheme. It should be noted that 444
434 study. In the SAS configuration, a single antenna is used in each synchronization at the symbol level and of the carrier phase is 445
435 node and the DF protocol is employed at the relay nodes. In the assumed in this work. If one considers the distributed Alamouti 446
436 first hop, the source node broadcasts information symbol vector STBC as an example, the encoding procedure is detailed in 447
437 s to the relay node which is given by (1) (1)
Table II, where s = [s1 s2 ] denotes the estimated symbols 448
 PENG AND DE LAMARE: ADAPTIVE BUFFER-AIDED DISTRIBUTED SPACE-TIME CODING 7

TABLE II N
scheme and K = CnrDSTC denotes all possible relay group com- 483
D ISTRIBUTED A LAMOUTI IN SAS
binations. The noise variance is given by σd2 . After the relay 484
group selection, the optimal relay group transmits the DSTC 485
signals to the destination node and the received data at the 486
destination is described by 487
s
PR
r R Dm [ j] = g [ j]Cm [ j] + n R Dm [ j], (22)
(2) (2) NDSTC R Dm
449 at relay 1, and s = [s1 s2 ] denotes the symbols estimated at
450 relay 2. Note that it is assumed that the best relays will be cho- where Cm [ j] denotes the DSTC scheme encoded among the 488
451 sen in the second hop and synchronization is perfect so after the chosen relays. The DSTC decoding process is similar to that 489
452 relays forward the DSTC schemes to the destination, a compos- of the original STC scheme. It is worth mentioning that the 490

of
453 ite signal comprising DSTC transmissions from multiple relays adjustable coding schemes can be introduced in DSTC schemes 491
454 is received. The signal received in the second hop is described and the optimization of the adjustable code vector will result 492
455 by in a performance improvement. The summary of the ABARO 493
NDSTC
s algorithm for DSTC schemes in the SAS configuration is shown 494
X/nr PR in Table III. 495
r R Dm [ j] = g [ j]Cm [ j] + n R Dm [ j],
NDSTC R Dm
m=1
j = 1, 2, . . . , M/NDSTC , m = 1, 2, . . . , NDSTC /nr , (19) C. Best Relay Selection With DSTC in MAS 496

456
457
458
459
460
where r R Dm [ j] denotes the T × 1 received symbol vector,
and g R Dm [ j] denotes the mth channel coefficients vector. The
parameter M denotes the number of symbols stored in the
buffers, m denotes the number of relay groups to implement
the DSTC scheme and j denotes the DSTC scheme index.
ro The best relay selection algorithm described in the previ-
ous section is now extended to the MAS configuration in this
subsection. The main difference between the best relay selec-
tion for SAS and MAS is the use of multiple antennas at each
node. Moreover, the relays equipped with multiple antennas
will obtain a complete STC scheme and only one best relay
node will be chosen according to the best relay selection algo-
497
498
499
500
501
502
503
EP
461 B. Best Relay Selection With DSTC in SAS rithm. Assuming M = N , each node equips N ≥ 2 antennas 504
and in the first hop, the M × 1 modulated signal vector s[ j] 505
462 In this subsection, we describe the best relay selection algo-
is broadcast to the relays within 1 time slot and the M × 1 506
463 rithm used in conjunction with the DSTC scheme in the SAS
received symbol matrix rSRk [ j] is given by 507
464 configuration. In particular, the best relay selection algorithm
465 is based on the techniques reported in [9] and [27], however,
r
P
466 the approach presented here is modified for DSTC schemes and rSRk [ j] = FSRk [ j]s[ j] + n[ j], k = 1, 2, . . . , nr ,
N
467 buffer-aided relay systems. In the first hop, the M × 1 modu-
j = 1, 2, . . . J, (23)
468 lated signal vector s[ j] is broadcast to the relays during M time
469 slots and the M × 1 received symbol vector rSRk [ j] is given by where FSRk [ j] denotes the channel coefficient matrix between 508
√ the kth relay and the destination, and the AWGN noise vector
IEE

509
rSRk [ j] = P f SRk [ j]s[ j] + n[ j], k = 1, 2, . . . , nr , n[ j] is generated at the kth relay node with variance σn2 . The 510
j = 1, 2, . . . , J, (20) N × 1 received symbol vector is stored at the relays and the 511
optimal relay will be chosen according to [28]. The opportunis- 512
470 where f SRk [ j] denotes the complex scalar channel gain between tic relay selection algorithm for the DSTC scheme and the MAS 513
471 the kth relay and the destination, and the AWGN noise vector configuration is given by 514
472 n[ j] is generated at the kth relay node with variance equal to
473 σn2 . The relays are equipped with buffers to store the received kG Rk D [ j]k2F
SNRk [ j] = argmax , k = 1, 2, . . . , nr , (24)
474 symbol vectors and the optimal relays are chosen according G Rk D [ j] σd2
475 to the approach reported in [28] in order to implement the
476 DSTC scheme among the relays. Specifically, all the relays where G Rk D [ j] denotes the N × N channel matrix between the 515
477 will be divided into m = NDSTCnr groups and the best relay group kth relay and the destination. After the best relay with the max- 516
478 with the highest SINR will be chosen to forward the received imum SNR is chosen, the data is encoded by the DSTC scheme. 517
479 symbols. The opportunistic relay selection algorithm is given The DSTC encoded and transmitted data in the second hop is 518
480 by received at the destination as described by 519
r
kg R Dk [ j]k2F P
SINRk [ j] = argmax P , (21) R[ j] = G R D [ j]M[ j] + N[ j], (25)
N k
q
g R Dk [ j] K 2 + σ2
m=1,m6=k kg R D m
[ j]k F d
where M[ j] denotes the N × T DSTC encoded data, R[ j] 520
481 where g R Dm [ j] denotes the 1 × NDSTC channel vector between denotes the N × T received data matrix, and N[ j] is the AWGN 521
482 the chosen relays and the destination to implement the DSTC matrix with variance σd2 . 522
 8 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON COMMUNICATIONS

TABLE III
S UMMARY OF THE A DAPTIVE B UFFER -A IDED R ELAYING O PTIMIZATION A LGORITHM FOR DSTC S CHEMES IN SAS

of
ro
EP
523 VI. A NALYSIS A. Computational Complexity Analysis 545

524 In this section, we assess the computational complexity of According to the description of the proposed algorithms in 546
IEE

525 the proposed algorithms, derive the pairwise error probability Section IV and V, the SG algorithms reduces the computational 547
526 (PEP) of cooperative systems that employ adaptive STC and complexity by avoiding the channel inversion as compared to 548
527 DSTC schemes and analyze delay aspects caused by buffers. the existing algorithms. The computational complexity of the 549
528 The expression of the PEP upper bound is adopted due to its proposed SG adjustable matrix optimization in the SAS and 550
529 relevance to assess STC and DSTC schemes. We also study the MAS configurations is (3 + T )N and (3 + T )N 2 , respectively. 551
530 effects of the use of buffers and adjustable codes at the relays, The main difference between the proposed algorithms in the 552
531 and derive analytical expressions for their impact on the PEP. SAS and MAS configurations is the number of antennas. For 553
532 As mentioned in Section II, the adjustable codes are consid- example, the computational complexity of SNR in SR and R D 554
533 ered in the derivation as it affects the performance by reducing links in SAS configuration is 2N (1 + T ) according to (11), 555
534 the upper bound of the PEP. Similarly, the buffers store the while the computational complexity of SNR in SR and R D 556
535 data and forward it by selecting the best available associated links in the MAS configuration is 2N 2 (1 + T ). In addition, 557
536 channel for transmission so that the performance improvement if a higher-level modulation scheme is employed, larger relay 558
537 is quantified in our analysis. The PEP upper bound of the networks and more antennas are used at the relay node, the 559
538 traditional STC schemes in [25] is used for comparison pur- STC and DSTC schemes and the relay selection algorithm as 560
539 poses. The main difference between the PEP upper bound in well as the coding vector optimization algorithm become more 561
540 [25] and that derived in this section lies in the increase of the complex. For example, if a 4-antenna relay node is employed, 562
541 eigenvalues of the adjustable codes and channels which leads the number of multiplications will be increased from 10 when 563
542 to higher coding gains. The derived upper bound holds for using a 2-antenna relay node to 28, and if 4 single-antenna relay 564
543 systems with different sizes and an arbitrary number of relay nodes are employed to implement a DSTC scheme the number 565
544 nodes. of multiplications will be increased from 20 to 112. 566
 PENG AND DE LAMARE: ADAPTIVE BUFFER-AIDED DISTRIBUTED SPACE-TIME CODING 9

567 B. Pairwise Error Probability C. Effect of Adjustable Code Matrices 603

568 Consider an N × N STC scheme at the relay node with Before the analysis of the effect of the adjustable code matri- 604
569 T codewords. The codeword C1 is transmitted and decoded ces, we derive the expression of the upper bound of the error 605
570 as another codeword Ci at the destination node, where i = probability expression for a traditional STC. It is worth men- 606
571 1, 2, . . . , T . According to [25], the probability of error for this tioning that in this section, we focus on the effort of using 607
572 code can be upper bounded by the sum of all the probabilities adjustable code matrices at the relays and the relay selection 608
573 of incorrect decoding, which is given by and the effort of buffers are not considered. 609
According to [25], the PEP upper bound of the SAS config- 610
T
X uration using traditional STC schemes is given by 611
Pe ≤ P(C1 → Ci ). (26)
NT N
" !#
i=2 1 γ XX 2
Pe ≤ E exp − λCn |ξn,m |
2 4
Assuming that the codeword C2 is decoded at the destination

of
574 m=1 n=1
575 node and that we know the channel information perfectly, we 1
= QN γ
, (30)
576 can derive the conditional PEP of the STC encoded with the NT
n=1 (1 + 4 λCn )
577 adjustable code matrix V as [26]
r  where λCn denotes the nth eigenvalue of the distance matrix by 612
1 2 γ 1 2 using a traditional STC scheme. If we rearrange the terms in 613
P(C → C |V) = Q kVG Rk D (C − C )k F , (27)
2 (30), we can rewrite the upper bound of the PEP of traditional 614
STC scheme as 615
578
579
580
581
582
583
584
where G Rk D stands for the channel coefficients matrix. Let
UH 3C U be the eigenvalue decomposition of (C1 − C2 )H (C1 −
C2 ), where U is a unitary matrix with the eigenvectors and
3C is a diagonal matrix which contains all the eigenvalues
of the difference between two different codewords C1 and
C2 . Let YH 3Gn Y stand for the eigenvalue decomposition of
ro
(G Rk D U) H G Rk D U, where Y is a unitary matrix that contains
Pe ≤
4
N
 γ −N 2 T Y

n=1
λ−N T
Cn . (31)

If we only consider adjustable code matrices at relays with- 616

out the relay selection and buffers, the upper bound of the PEP 617
of the proposed ABARO algorithm is derived as 618
EP
585 the eigenvectors and 3V is a diagonal matrix with the eigen- 1
586 values arranged in decreasing order. The eigenvalue decompo- PeV ≤ Q N γ NT
587 sition of (YVU)H YVU is denoted by WH 3Vn W, where W is a n=1 (1 + 4 λVn λCn )
N
! N N
588 unitary matrix that contains the eigenvectors and 3Vn is a diag-  γ −N 2 T Y Y Y
−N T
589 onal matrix with the eigenvalues. Therefore, the conditional ≈ λCn λ−N
Vn
T
= Pe λ−N T
Vn ,
4
590 PEP can be written as n=1 n=1 n=1
v  (32)
u NT N
uγ X X
P(C1 → C2 |V) = Q t
opt
λVn λGn λCn |ξn,m |2  , By comparing (31) and (32), employing an adjustable code 619
2 matrix for an STC scheme at the relay node introduces λVn 620
m=1 n=1
(28) in the PEP upper bound. The adjustable code matrices are 621
chosen according to the criterion introduced in [20] and the
IEE

622
opt Hermitian matrix VH n Vn is positive semi-definite. With the aid 623
591 where ξn,m is the (n, m)th element in Y, and λVn , λGn and
of numerical tools, we have found that 3V is diagonal with 624
592 λCn are the nth eigenvalues in 3V , 3Gn and 3C , respectively.
opt one eigenvalue less than 1 and others much greater than 1. 625
593 It is important to note that the value of λV and λGn are posi-
We define the coding gain factor η which denotes the quo- 626
594 tive and real because (G Rk D U) H G Rk D U and (YVU)H YVU are tient of the traditional STC PEP and the adjustable STC PEP 627
595 Hermitian symmetric matrices. According to [25], an appropri- as described by 628
−x 2
596 ate upper bound assumption of the Q function is Q(x) ≤ 12 e 2 , N
597 thus the upper bound of the PEP for an adaptive STC scheme is Pe Y
η, = λVNnT ≫ 1. (33)
598 given by PeV
n=1
NT N
" !#
1 γ XX opt 2 As a result, by using the adjustable code matrices at the 629
PeV ≤ E exp − λVn λGn λCn |ξn,m |
2 4 relays contributes to a decrease of the BER performance. The 630
m=1 n=1
effect of employing and optimizing the adjustable code matrix 631
1 corresponds to introducing coding gain into the STC schemes. 632
= QN γ opt . (29)
NT
n=1 (1 + 4 λVn λGn λCn ) The power constraint enforced by (17) introduces no additional 633
power and energy during the optimization. As a result, employ- 634
opt
599 The key elements of the PEP are λVn and λGn which related ing the adjustable code matrices in the MAS and the SAS 635
600 to the adjustable code matrices and the channels in the second configurations can provide a decrease in the BER upper bound 636
601 hop. In the following subsection we will provide an analysis of since the value in the denominator increases without additional 637
602 these key elements separately. transmit power. 638
 10 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON COMMUNICATIONS

639 D. Effect of Buffer-Aided Relays Through (38), we have shown that Pe opt < Pe which indi- 665
Gn
640 In this subsection, the effect of using buffers at the relays cates the BER performance of a system that employs buffer- 666
641 is mathematically analyzed. The expression of the PEP upper aided relays is improved as compared to that of a system using 667
642 bound is adopted again in this subsection. The traditional STC relays without buffers. Despite the result in (38), we have not 668
643 scheme is employed in this subsection in order to highlight the obtained formulas relating Pe opt as a function of the buffer size 669
Gn
644 performance improvement by using buffers at the relays. M J . This is an interesting subject for future work. 670
645 Let UH 3C U be the eigenvalue decomposition of (C1 −
646 C ) (C − C2 ) and YH 3G Rk D Y be the eigenvalue decomposi-
2 H 1

647 tion of (G Rk D U) H G Rk D U, the PEP upper bound of a traditional E. Delay Aspects 671
648 STC scheme in buffer-aided relays is given by
The use of buffer-aided relays improves the performance of 672
" NT X
N
!# wireless links at the expense of a higher delay in the system. In 673
1 γ

of
opt
X
Pe opt ≤E exp − λGn λCn |ξn,m |2 this subsection, we analyze the average delay of the proposed 674
Gn 2 4 scheme, which is based on the work reported in [29]. 675
m=1 n=1
1 We assume that the source always has data to transmit, the 676
= QN γ opt (34) delay is mostly caused by the buffer at the relays and relay 677
NT
n=1 (1 + 4 λGn λCn )
selection has been performed with the algorithms described 678
N N
 γ −N 2 T Y Y in the previous sections. Let TSAS [i] and Q SAS [i] denote the 679
≈ λ−N
Cn
T
λ−N T
opt , delay of the packet of M symbols transmitted by the source 680
4 Gn

649
650
651
652
n=1 n=1

where λCn denotes the eigenvalues of the traditional STC

scheme and λGopt denotes the eigenvalue of the channel com-
n
ponents. The PEP performance of a traditional STC scheme
without buffer-aided relays is given by

Pe ≤ Q N γ
1
n=1 (1 + 4 λGn λCn )
NT
ro and the queue length at time i for SAS schemes, respectively,
and TMAS [ j] and Q MAS [ j] denote the delay of the packet of M
symbols transmitted by the source and the queue length at time
j for DSTC schemes, respectively.
According to Little’s law [30], the average delays TSAS =
E[TSAS [i]] and TMAS = E[TMAS [ j]] due to the time the pack-
ets are stored in the relay buffer are given by
681
682
683
684
685
686
687
EP
Q SAS
 γ −N 2 T YN N TSAS = time slots, (39)
Y R
≈ λ−N
Cn
T
λ−N T
Gn , (35) Q MAS
4 TMAS = time slots, (40)
n=1 n=1
R
653 where λCn denotes the eigenvalues of the traditional STC
where Q SAS = E[Q SAS [i]] and Q MAS = E[Q MAS [ j]] are the 688
654 scheme and λGn denotes the eigenvalue of the channels in the
average queue lengths at the buffer for the SAS and MAS con- 689
655 second hop. By comparing (34) and (35), the only difference
figurations, respectively, and R is the average arrival rate into 690
656 is the product of the channel eigenvalues. To show the advan-
the queue, which is assumed fixed. 691
657 tage of employing buffer-aided relays, we need to prove that
For simplicity and without loss of generality, we assume 692
658 Pe opt < Pe .
Gn the source node transmits one packet of M symbols at each 693
IEE

659 We can simply divide (34) by (35) and obtain time slot, i.e., R = 1 packets/slot = M symbols/slot. We 694
% γ
−N 2 T Q N −N T QN −N T also assume for simplicity that the error probability for the 695
Pe 4 n=1 λCn n=1 λGn source/relay link PSR and the relay/destination link PR D is the 696
β= = % γ
−N 2 T
Pe QN −N T QN −N T same, i.e., P = PSR = PR D . 697
n=1 λCn n=1 λGopt
opt
Gn 4
QN
n For a buffer of size J packets, the average queue length can 698
NT be expressed as
n=1 λGopt 699
n
= QN NT
. (36)
λ
n=1 Gn J
X
Q SAS = i PG i = J PG J , (41)
660 As derived in Section IV, the instantaneous SNR of the chan- i=0
661 nels is computed and the channel with highest SNR is chosen J
X
662 which contains the largest eigenvalues among all the channels. Q MAS = j PG j = J PG J , (42)
663 As a result, we have j=0
opt
λCn > λCn , n = 1, 2, . . . , N , (37) where the probability of the buffer states, PG i and PG j , are 700
given in [29] and PG J = Pfull (probability of full buffer) and 701
664 which gives PG 0 = Pempty (probability of empty buffer). 702
QN NT The average arrival rate in the buffer-aided relay is given by 703
Pe n=1 λGopt
n
β= = QN ≫ 1. (38)
Pe opt
NT
n=1 λGn
R = (1 − PG j )P + PG 0 P. (43)
Gn
 PENG AND DE LAMARE: ADAPTIVE BUFFER-AIDED DISTRIBUTED SPACE-TIME CODING 11

Fig. 3. Buffer v.s. No Buffer in the SAS configuration. Fig. 5. BER Performance vs. SNR for the SAS configuration with 1 relay.

of
704 Using the above equation, we obtain

TSAS =
Q SAS
=
PG J
J
ro
Fig. 4. BER Performance vs. SNR for the SAS configuration with 1 relay. Fig. 6. BER Performance vs. SNR for buffer-aided relay systems with 2 relays.
EP
R (1 − PG j )P + PG 0 P
= J packets/slot = J M symbols/slot, (44)
Q MAS PG J
TMAS = = JN
R (1 − PG j )P + PG 0 P
= JN packets/slot = JMN symbols/slot, (45)

705 where PG 0 = PG J which means Pempty = Pfull . This analysis Fig. 7. BER Performance vs. SNR for buffer-aided relay systems with 2 relays.
706 shows that the MAS configuration leads to an average delay
707 which is N times greater than that of the SAS configuration. are shown in Fig. 3 The theoretical PEP result of a standard 727
SAS configuration, which does not employ STC schemes or
IEE

728
buffer-aided relays, is shown as the curve contains the largest 729
708 VII. S IMULATION decoding errors. By comparing the first two BER curves in 730
709 The simulation results are provided in this section to assess Fig. 3 we can conclude that by employing buffers at relays, 731
710 the proposed scheme and algorithms in the SAS and the MAS the decoding error upper bound is decreased. In this case, the 732
711 configurations. In this work, we consider the AF protocol effect of using buffers at the relays contributes to reducing the 733
712 with the standard Alamouti STBC scheme and randomized PEP performance dramatically. If the STC scheme is employed 734
713 Alamouti (R-Alamouti) scheme in [20]. The BPSK modulation at the relays, an increase of diversity order is observed in 735
714 is employed and each link between the nodes is characterized Fig. 3 By comparing the lower BER curves in Fig. 3, we can 736
715 by static block fading with AWGN. The period during which see that by employing the ABARO algorithm which optimizes 737
716 the channel is static is equal to one symbol transmission period the adjustable matrices after each transmission contributes to a 738
717 in Figs. 4, 5 and 6, whereas in Figs. 3 and 7 such period is lower error probability upper bound. As shown in the previous 739
718 equal to one packet size. The packet size is M = 100 symbols section, by employing adjustable code matrices and the pro- 740
719 and the number of packets is J = 200. The effects of differ- posed ABARO algorithm, an improvement of the coding gain 741
720 ent buffer sizes are also evaluated. Different STC schemes can is obtained which improves performance. 742
721 be employed with a simple modification as well as the proposed The proposed ABARO algorithm with the Alamouti scheme 743
722 relay selection and the ABARO algorithms can be incorporated. and an ML receiver in the SAS configuration is evaluated with 744
723 We employ nr = 1, 2 relay nodes and N = 1, 2 antennas at a single-relay system in Figs. 4 and 5. Different buffer sizes are 745
724 each node, and we set the symbol power σs2 to 1. considered at the relay node. A static channel is employed dur- 746
725 The upper bounds of the D-Alamouti, the proposed ABARO ing the simulation and the corresponding period in which the 747
726 algorithm and the buffer-aided relays in the SAS configurations channel is static corresponds to one symbol.The BER results of 748
 12 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON COMMUNICATIONS

associated with the proposed ABARO algorithm is the same as 794

that of using the RSTC scheme at the relay node. Compared to 795
the MMRS algorithm derived in [16] with the same buffer size, 796
the ABARO algorithm achieves a 1 dB to 2 dB improvement. 797
The proposed ABARO algorithm with the Alamouti scheme 798
and an ML receiver is evaluated in a MAS configuration with 799
two relays in Fig. 7. It is shown in the figure that the buffer- 800
aided relay selection systems achieve 3 dB to 5 dB gains 801
compared to the previously reported relay systems. When the 802
BSR algorithm is considered at the relay node, an improve- 803
ment of diversity order is shown in Fig. 7 which leads to 804
Fig. 8. Average delay vs. buffer size for buffer-aided relay systems with 2
relays and Alamouti codes. significantly improved BER performance. According to the 805

of
simulation results in Fig. 7, a 1 dB gain can be achieved by 806
749 the cooperative system with the best relay selection algorithm using the RSTC scheme at the relays as compared to the net- 807
750 in [9] and the max-max relay selection (MMRS) protocols in work using the standard STC scheme at the relay node. When 808
751 [16] are shown in both figures. The BER performance of using the proposed ABARO algorithm is employed at the relays, a 2 809
752 standard Alamouti scheme at the relays is given as well. In dB saving for the same BER performance as compared to the 810
753 Fig. 4, we show the results for the best relay selection algo- standard STC encoded system can be observed. The diversity 811
754 rithm without STC, the standard Alamouti, the buffer-aided order of using the proposed ABARO algorithm is the same as 812
MMRS and ABARO algorithms using STC. The results show that of using the RSTC scheme at the relay node.
755
756
757
758
759
760
761
762
that the proposed buffer-aided scheme with the ABARO algo-
rithm outperforms the buffer-aided system with MMRS by up to
1 dB in SNR for the same BER performance, which is followed
by the standard Alamouti scheme and the best relay selection
algorithm without STC. In Fig. 4, a simulation of the MMRS
and the proposed algorithm in a scenario with asymmetric fad-
ing channels has been considered. We assumed the fading in
ro The impact of imperfect CSI at the destination node is con-
sidered for different schemes as shown in Fig. 7. In particular,
we verify that a 2 dB loss in SNR for the same BER per-
formance is obtained for BRS with Alamouti and R-Alamouti
schemes due to the imperfect CSI employed at the destination
node. Moreover, as we introduce errors in the channel param-
eters in (13)–(16), the accuracy of the code vectors obtained
813
814
815
816
817
818
819
820
EP
763 the first hop is significantly higher than than in the second with the ABARO algorithm is affected. However, according to 821
764 phase. Specifically, we generate random variables with a vari- the simulation result, a 1 dB loss in SNR for the same BER 822
765 ance equal to 1 for the channels of the first hop (weak hop), and is observed in Fig. 7 due to the channel errors. The proposed 823
766 random variables with a variance equal to 0.45 to model the ABARO algorithm is able to maintain the BER performance 824
767 channels of the second hop (strong hop). The results show that gain in the presence of imperfect CSI at the destination node. 825
768 the BER performance of the MMRS and the proposed ABARO In Fig. 8, we show the average delay for buffers of finite size 826
769 algorithm are worse than that in the symmetric fading channel for different values of J , where we compare simulation and 827
770 due to the worse channels in the first hop. However, a 1 dB analytical results. We assume the links are i.i.d. In particular, 828
771 gain between the proposed ABARO algorithm and the MMRS we observe that as the buffer size increases, the average delay 829
772 algorithm can be obtained. with finite buffer size linearly increases and that the average 830
In Fig. 5, we show the results for the schemes without STC so delay of SAS is twice lower than that of MAS for a system with
IEE

773 831
774 that the curves achieve a first order diversity. The MMRS algo- Alamouti codes. This is expected because the MAS configura- 832
775 rithms obtain a gain of 2 dB to 3 dB in SNR for the same BER tion requires N times longer to encode the data at the relays. 833
776 performance over the best relay selection algorithm. According We also verify that the simulation and analytical results are in 834
777 to the simulation results, with the increase of the buffer size good agreement. 835
778 at the relay nodes, the additional gain in BER performance
779 reduces. With the buffer size greater than M = 6 the advantages
VIII. C ONCLUSION 836
780 of using buffer-aided relays are not significant.
781 An improvement of diversity order can be observed when We have proposed a buffer-aided space-time coding scheme, 837
782 using STBC schemes at the relays which is shown in Fig. 6. relay selection and the adaptive buffer-aided relaying opti- 838
783 With the buffer size greater than 4, the advantage of using mization (ABARO) algorithms for cooperative systems with 839
784 STBC schemes at the relays disappears as a function of the limited feedback using an ML receiver at the destination node 840
785 diminishing returns in performance. As shown in the simulation to achieve a better BER performance. Simulation results have 841
786 results, when the RSTC scheme is considered at the relay node, illustrated the advantage of using the adjustable STC and DSTC 842
787 the BER curve with buffer size of 6 approaches that with buffer schemes in the buffer-aided cooperative systems compared to 843
788 size of 8 as well. In Fig. 6, the proposed ABARO algorithm the best relay selection algorithms. In addition, the proposed 844
789 is employed in the single-antenna systems with nr = 2 relay ABARO algorithm can achieve a better performance in terms of 845
790 nodes. According to the simulation results in Fig. 6, a 1 dB to lower BER at the destination node as compared to prior art. The 846
791 2 dB gain can be achieved by using the proposed ABARO algo- ABARO algorithm can be used with different STC schemes and 847
792 rithm at the relays as compared to the network using the RSTC can also be extended to cooperative systems with any number 848
793 scheme at the relay node. The diversity order of the curves of antennas. 849
 PENG AND DE LAMARE: ADAPTIVE BUFFER-AIDED DISTRIBUTED SPACE-TIME CODING 13

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Tong Peng received the B.Eng. degree in electronics

engineering from Liaocheng University, Shandong,
China, and the M.Sc. and Ph.D. degrees in com-
munications engineering from The University of
York, York, U.K., in 2010 and 2014, respec-
tively. He worked as a Research Associate with
943

944
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949
EP
the Communications Research Group, CETUC/PUC- 950
885 [12] N. Zlatanov, R. Schober, and P. Popovski, “Buffer-aided relaying with RIO, Brazil, sponsored by the National Council for 951
886 adaptive link selection,” IEEE J. Sel. Areas Commun., vol. 31, no. 8,
Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq), 952
887 pp. 1530–1542, Aug. 2013.
Brazil, for 18 months after his Ph.D. Then 953
888 [13] N. Zlatanov and R. Schober, “Buffer-aided relaying with adaptive link
he got a Research Associate position with the 954
889 selection—Fixed and mixed rate transmission,” IEEE Trans. Inf. Theory, Communications Research Group, Department of Electronics, University of 955
890 vol. 59, no. 5, pp. 2816–2840, May 2013.
York. His research interests include practical binary physical-layer network 956
891 [14] I. Krikidis, T. Charalambous, and J. Thompson, “Buffer-aided relay selec-
coding designs, distributed space-time codes, cooperative communications, and 957
892 tion for cooperative diversity systems without delay constraints,” IEEE
adaptive optimizations. 958
893 Trans. Wireless Commun., vol. 11, no. 5, pp. 1957–1967, May 2012.
894 [15] A. Ikhlef, J. Kim, and R. Schober, “Mimicking full-duplex relaying using
895 half-duplex relays with buffers,” IEEE Trans. Veh. Technol., vol. 61, no. 7,
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897 [16] A. Ikhlef, D. S. Michalopoulos, and R. Schober, “Max-max relay selec- Rodrigo C. de Lamare (S’99–M’05–SM’10) was 959
898 tion for relays with buffers,” IEEE Trans. Wireless Commun., vol. 11, born in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in 1975. He received 960
IEE

899 no. 3, pp. 1124–1135, Jan. 2012. the diploma degree in electronic engineering from 961
900 [17] S. Luo and K. C. Teh, “Buffer state based relay selection for buffer-aided the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Rio de 962
901 cooperative relaying systems,” IEEE Trans. Wireless Commun., vol. 14, Janeiro, Brazil, in 1998, and the M.Sc. and Ph.D. 963
902 no. 10, pp. 5430–5439, Oct. 2015. degrees in electrical engineering from the Pontifical 964
903 [18] N. Nomikos, T. Charalambous, I. Krikidis, D. N. Skoutas, D. Vouyioukas, Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro (PUC-Rio), Rio 965
904 and M. Johansson, “A buffer-aided successive opportunistic relay selec- de Janeiro, Brazil, in 2001 and 2004, respectively. 966
905 tion scheme with power adaptation and inter-relay interference cancella- Since January 2006, he has been with the Department 967
906 tion for cooperative diversity systems,” IEEE Trans. Commun., vol. 63, of Electronics, University of York, York, U.K., where 968
907 no. 5, pp. 1623–1634, May 2015. he is a Professor. Since April 2013, he has also been 969
908 [19] S. Haykin, Adaptive Filter Theory, 4th ed. Englewood Cliffs, NJ, USA: a Professor with PUC-Rio. He has authored more than 350 papers published in 970
909 Prentice-Hall, 2002. international journals and conferences. His research interests include communi- 971
910 [20] B. Sirkeci-Mergen and A. Scaglione, “Randomized space-time coding for cations and signal processing. He has participated in numerous projects funded 972
911 distributed cooperative communication,” IEEE Trans. Signal Process., by government agencies and industrial companies. He is an elected member 973
912 vol. 55, no. 10, pp. 5003–5017, Oct. 2007. of the IEEE Signal Processing Theory and Methods Technical Committee. He 974
913 [21] T. Peng, R. C. de Lamare, and A. Schmeink, “Adaptive distributed space- currently serves as an Associate Editor of the EURASIP Journal on Wireless 975
914 time coding based on adjustable code matrices for cooperative MIMO Communications and Networking and as a Senior Editor of the IEEE S IGNAL 976
915 relaying systems,” IEEE Trans. Commun., vol. 61, no. 7, pp. 2692–2703, P ROCESSING L ETTERS. He was the recipient of number of awards for his 977
916 Jul. 2013. research work. 978