On Performance of Full-Duplex Decode-and-Forward Relay Systems with an Optimal Power Setting under the Impact of Hardware Impairments

Abstract

In this paper, we analyze the performance of in-band full-duplex (IBFD) relay systems that use the decode-and-forward (DF) protocol at the relay under the impact of imperfect self-interference cancellation and hardware impairments. Three practical relay scenarios are considered in our analysis: (i) there is no direct link from the source to the destination; (ii) there is a direct link, but the signal from the source is considered interference; and (iii) there is a direct link, and the signal from the source is cooperatively combined with that from the relaying path. Specifically, we derive exact and asymptotic expressions for the outage probability (OP) of the IBFD system. Based on the OP, the exact expression for symbol error probability (SEP) is also derived. Moreover, in order to cope with the effect of imperfect self-interference cancellation (SIC) due to the full-duplex mode, we propose optimal and suboptimal power calculation methods for the relay to minimize the OP and SEP. A performance evaluation shows that the IBFD relay system is significantly affected by both imperfect SIC and hardware impairments. However, the optimal power values can help to improve the system performance, significantly.