Cooperative Communications: Hardware, Channel & PHYfocuses on issues pertaining to the PHY layer of wirelesscommunication networks, offering a rigorous taxonomy of thisdispersed field, along with a range of application scenarios forcooperative and distributed schemes, demonstrating how thesetechniques can be employed. The authors discuss hardware,complexity and power consumption issues, which are vital forunderstanding what can be realized at the PHY layer, showing howwireless channel models differ from more traditional models, andhighlighting the reliance of PHY algorithm performance on theunderlying channel models. Numerous transparent and regenerativerelaying protocols are described in detail for a variety oftransparent and regenerative cooperative schemes.

Key Features:

• Introduces background, concepts, applications, milestones andthorough taxonomy
• Identifies the potential in this emerging technology applied toe.g. LTE/WiMAX, WSN
• Discusses latest wireless channel models for transparent andregenerative protocols
• Addresses the fundamentals as well as latest emerging PHYprotocols
• Introduces transparent distributed STBC, STTC, multiplexing andbeamforming protocols
• Quantifies regenerative distributed space-time, channel andnetwork coding protocols
• Explores system optimization, such as distributed powerallocation and relay selection
• Introduces and compares analog and digital hardwarearchitectures
• Quantifies complexity, memory and power consumption of 3G UMTS& 4G LTE/WiMAX relay
• Highlights future research challenges within the cooperativecommunications field

This book is an invaluable guide for professionals andresearchers in communications fields. It will also be of interestto graduates of communications and electronic engineering courses.It forms part of an entire series dedicated to cooperative wirelesssystems.