Performance analysis of MMSE-based amplify and forward spatial multiplexing MIMO relaying systems

In this paper, we propose a general framework to quantify the average error probability of the minimum mean squared error based precoding schemes in amplify-and-forward relay networks where all nodes are equipped with multiple antennas. Especially, we investigate spatial multiplexing schemes which transmit multiple data streams simultaneously. Due to difficulty in finding an exact expression of the average error rate, we exploit the high signal-to-noise-ratio (SNR) based approach which allows a simple and accurate characterization of the performance. Then, we derive new closed form expressions for bit error rate performance of both the optimal source-relay joint precoding schemes and the optimal relay only precoding schemes in terms of a coding gain as well as a diversity gain. Taking a different pathloss in each hop into consideration, we evaluate the performance in a generalized environment. Through our analysis, we discuss several interesting observations and provide a helpful guideline for designing MMSE-based relaying systems. Monte-Carlo simulations show that our analytical work accurately predicts numerical results.