Performance analysis of dual-hop dual-branch amplify-and-forward relaying cooperative diversity system using best-path selection technique over Nakagami-m fading channels

One of the promising technologies for achieving virtual diversity gains is cooperative relaying. This study considers a dual-hop dual-branch cooperative diversity system with an amplify-and-forward mechanism where the hop count here means the total number of relays between source and destination which equals two. Utilizing the best-path selection combining technique, a closed-form formula for the average bit error rate and outage probability is obtained. Furthermore, between the nodes in the two branches, we consider independent non-identical Nakagami-m slow flat fading channels. The Monte Carlo simulation results are confirmed with the analytical ones.