2012 Volume E95.B Issue 5 Pages 1852-1855
This letter presents a method for obtaining an exact average symbol error rate (ASER) of M-phase shift keying (M-PSK) transmission for the Nth best opportunistic amplify-and-forward (OAF) relay systems over Rayleigh fading channels. This approach begins with deriving the relay selection probability when a relay is selected as the Nth best one with respect to the received signal-to-noise ratio. We then derive the modified moment generating function (MGF) for the Nth best OAF relay systems by taking the given Nth best-relay selection probability into consideration. Based on the modified MGF, we derive the exact ASER which accurately explicates the Nth best OAF relay system characteristics. Simulation results confirm the exactness of the analysis results for M-PSK transmission with respect to the number of relays, the Nth best relay selection, and the relay position.