End-to-End Data Rate Performance of Decode-and-Forward Relaying with Different Resource Allocation Schemes

This paper studies the end-to-end (e-e) data rate of dual-hop Decode-and-Forward (DF) infrastructure relaying under different resource allocation schemes. In this context, we first provide a comparative analysis of the optimal resource allocation scheme with respect to several other approaches in order to provide insights into the system behavior and show the benefits of each alternative. Then, assuming the optimal resource allocation, a closed form expression for the distribution of the mean and outage data rates is derived. It turns out that the corresponding mean e-e data rate formula attains an expression in terms of an integral that does not admit a closed form solution. Therefore, a tight lower bound formula for the mean e-e data rate is presented. Results can be used to select the most convenient resource allocation scheme and perform link dimensioning in the network planning phase, showing the explicit relationships that exist between component link bandwidths, SNR values, and mean data rate.